Strengths use, self-concordance and well-being: Implications for Strengths Coaching and Coaching Psychologists

An emphasis of the coaching psychology and positive psychology movements has been strengths and well-being. This study examined two generic aspects of strengths – strengths knowledge and strengths use, together with organismic valuing, and their relations with subjective well-being, psychological well-being, and subjective vitality. Theory suggests that people who know their strengths, use their strengths, and follow the directions that are right for them (i.e. organismically valuing) will be happier. Participants (N=214) completed measures of these variables, as well as measures of self-esteem and self-efficacy. Analyses showed that strengths knowledge, strengths use, and organismic valuing were all significantly associated with well-being and vitality. Regression analyses showed that self-esteem, organismic valuing, and strengths use all predicted unique variance in subjective well-being and psychological well-being, but only self-esteem significantly predicted unique variance in subjective vitality. The discussion locates the findings in relation to strengths coaching, and suggests directions for future research and coaching psychology applications.