VIA Youth-103 (Age 8-12)

This is the new and improved version (of the VIA Youth Survey), launched in October 2021. It contains revisions to all 24 scales. All scales have 4 items with the exception of teamwork (6) and spirituality (9). The VIA Institute recommends this as the preferred measure of character strengths in youth.

The spirituality scale is currently being tested. There are technically two spirituality scales: 9 items being tested for ages 8-12 and 9 items being tested for ages 13-17. The items for these spirituality scales will be reduced based on forthcoming research. This distinction by age reflects the neurobiological research on spirituality in children and the different ways children are able to understand and express spirituality at different periods in their developmental trajectory. In reviewing the scientific literature, the items on these scales represent the FIRST time an assessment of spirituality has ever been created that meets the following three criteria: a.) it is for young children and adolescents; b.) is a secular measure of spirituality (no mention of religion or faith); and c.) it does not substantially overlap with other character strengths (i.e., especially strengths such as love, humility, forgiveness, kindness, and gratitude, all of which can be identified by many as obvious secular-spiritual strengths). The development of these scales represents a collaboration between Columbia University (the Spirituality Mind Body Institute) and the VIA Institute on Character. The collaborators on this project include: Dr. Lisa Miller, Dr. Ryan Niemiec, Dr. Robert McGrath, Dr. Dan Tomasulo, Joshua Lipson, Tom Ford, Francesca Bates, and Dr. Neal Mayerson.

The initial study of this version of the VIA Youth Survey is based on a sample of 286 youth. All but one scale met common criteria for unidimensionality. Correlations with parent and teacher ratings of the strengths varied in a manner that was predicted from theoretical work on the relationship between self-reports and informant reports. Note that these findings and the data below reflect an earlier version of the spirituality scale (a nonsecular measure with items on religiousness/faith); data will be updated with the new spirituality scale when it becomes available.

Further validity studies are currently in progress.

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