Comparison of Positive Character Strengths in Employees with Healthy and Unhealthy Occupational Stress Coping Styles

The aim of the study was to compare the protective and interpersonal strengths as positive personality traits in employees with healthy (G: good health pattern, S: sparing pattern) and unhealthy (A: ambitious pattern, B: burnout pattern) job stress coping styles. Therefore, 146 employees of an industrial organization in Mashhad were selected by stratified random sampling and asked to respond to research tools. The instruments were the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths from Peterson & Seligman and Work-related Behavior and Experience Patterns Questionnaire from Schaarschmidt & Fischer. The results of multivariate analysis of variance showed that employees with healthy coping styles had higher means of protective and interpersonal strengths than unhealthy subjects. These findings open a new field for research on the role of personality in coping with work-related stress. Character strengths are trainable personal characteristics. Therefore, they are valuable resources to improve coping with work-related stress and to decreasing its negative effects.