The relation between character strengths and sustainable consumption behavior

The study aimed to investigate the relationship between character strengths and sustainable consumption. Moreover, the study examined differences in character strengths between individuals who follow vegan/vegetarian diets and those who are omnivores. Participants were 203 adults between 18 and 68 years. Significant correlations were found between sustainable consumption of food and the character strengths of kindness, forgiveness, curiosity, love of learning, prudence, zest, and judgment, and between sustainable consumption of clothes and the character strengths of hope, kindness, love, curiosity, love of learning, gratitude, and zest. Sustainable food consumption was predicted by spirituality, curiosity, prudence, and diet preference, and sustainable consumption of clothes was predicted by kindness, curiosity, and diet preference. To conclude, the study has revealed some relations between character strengths and sustainable consumption, hinting that inner transformational qualities could be essential to behaving sustainably. However, the relations are weak. This study can only be seen as a first step towards a deeper analysis of internal transformative qualities for sustainable behavior. In general, well-powered intervention studies with fostering values or connectedness must be conducted to investigate if internal transformative qualities are relevant for a change toward sustainable behavior.