Positive Student Development General Resources

Books & Articles

Note: There are no published resources on Positive Student Development Theory yet. However, the following books will provide a good overview of the psychological constructs found within the theory.

Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification

by Peterson and Seligman

If you only buy one book to understand the character strengths movement, this is the book. It is not a “stay up late at night because you can’t stop reading it” type of book. But it provides an empirically-based resource from which to understand 24 character strengths that are essential to a life well-lived.

Positive Psychology: The Scientific and Practical Explorations of Human Strengths

by Snyder and Lopez

This book is really intended to provide a textbook for graduate and undergraduate courses in positive psychology. However, I find it to provide an excellent in-depth discussion of both the science and application of positive psychology. It also encourages engaged learning by providing case studies and real-life examples.

What Is Right with You: Helping Students Find and Use Their Personal Strengths

by Hulme and Shushok

Fixing what’s wrong – with students, institutions, and cultures – is the most prevalent approach to change. Frank Shushok and Eileen Hulme offer the discovery and exploitation of what’s right as a powerful alternative.

Measurement

VIA Online Inventory: Brief Strengths Assessment

This questionnaire measures the same character strengths as the longer VIA Signature Strengths Survey, however, it only asks you to look at the past months behavior and it leaves the interpretation of the strength up to you. If you have time, I recommend taking the longer version. The final report of the longer test is a bit more helpful.

This 240 question survey takes approximately 30 – 45 minutes to complete. If this is your first exposure to the character strengths, I would highly recommend spending the time on this survey. You will receive a list of all 24 strengths in the order of your strength of response.

Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures

by Lopez and Snyder

If you are planning to do any type of assessment of positive psychological constructs, you should check out this book. It is a quick and easy reference that covers the psychological instruments used to measure 24 different constructs. I highly recommend this book if you are embarking on positive psychological research.