What Changes When We Measure Strengths Alongside Symptoms?

New research on trait expression, anxiety, and depression raises a broader question about what we measure and develop in behavioral health.

By Dr. Jason Roop

When I started working with these data, I was looking for patterns across time. I wanted to see what the assessments might tell us about differences across months and seasons. As I continued, though, I became more interested in another question: How did the strengths people reported expressing relate to the anxiety and depression they were experiencing?

I hadn’t started with a prediction about that relationship. The question took shape as I worked through the analysis. To examine it, I needed to look beyond the broader patterns and compare assessments from the same person at approximately the same time.

That became the focus of my latest study. It also brought me back to something I want to understand more fully through this work. Could helping people recognize and develop their strengths be part of how they begin to feel better? We often speak about strengths as something worth acknowledging. I want to know more about what happens when people learn to use them.

The study, published October 6, 2026, in Frontiers in Psychology, examined routine assessments from adults participating in recovery-oriented behavioral health programming. We analyzed 278 matched assessment occasions from 252 participants, comparing their self-reported trait expression with their anxiety and depressive symptoms.

The overall Trait Index combined ten assessed capacities, including resilience, self-awareness, empathy, and creativity. Anxiety and depression were measured using the GAD-7 and PHQ-9. Matching those assessments meant we could examine how the scores related for an individual at roughly the same point in time.

People who reported greater expression of their traits tended to report fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression. Those associations were moderate and remained consistent across several checks of the analysis.

I’m encouraged by that finding. I’m also interested in the different explanations for it. Being able to draw on our strengths might help us respond to difficulty in ways that reduce distress. Anxiety or depression might also make those strengths harder to recognize or use. When distress eases, a person may find it easier to express capacities that were there all along.

Both could be happening. Treatment, medication, social support, and life circumstances could also influence both sets of scores. And because these were self-report measures, how someone felt about themselves at the time may have affected their answers across the assessments.

Most participants contributed only one matched assessment occasion. The small group with repeated assessments did not provide enough evidence to establish which changes came first. This was an observational study of existing records, so it did not test whether deliberately developing strengths caused symptoms to improve.

That leaves us with a relationship worth investigating and several explanations we need to examine.

I also want to be clear about how these scores should be understood. A lower trait score does not mean someone lacks character, capacity, or worth. It tells us something about what that person reported expressing at that moment. Someone experiencing considerable distress may struggle to recognize much that is strong in themselves. We should be careful about turning that difficulty into a judgment about who they are.

Knowing how much anxiety or depression someone is experiencing matters. We need to understand suffering, assess risk, and provide appropriate care. I also want to know what that person sees in themselves. What do they believe they are capable of? Which strengths can they draw upon, and where do they need help learning to use them?

I don’t think we should have to wait until somebody feels better before taking those questions seriously.

For me, this is part of the purpose of the Trait-Based Model. The framework behind Start from Strength is concerned with how people understand themselves and develop across the settings of their lives. I’m interested in what people can learn about their own capacities and how that understanding might affect the way they live.

This particular study examined adults in recovery-oriented services. Its findings belong to that population. They do not establish that the model is effective in other settings or for other conditions, however interested I may be in those possibilities. We need to study those questions separately.

One question I would especially like to pursue is what we actually mean when we talk about developing a strength. Recognizing it, practicing it, and being able to use it when life gets difficult may involve different things.

Take creativity. A person might begin to recognize creativity in themselves and reconsider some of what they believe is possible. They might then practice generating alternatives when their first approach doesn’t work. But drawing on that creativity during a difficult conversation, when they are upset and the familiar reaction comes easily, is another challenge.

Recognizing a capacity doesn’t necessarily mean we know how to use it. Practicing it in a supportive setting doesn’t tell us how available it will feel when we are overwhelmed. The people around us, the conditions we are living in, and the opportunities we have to practice may all matter.

Our study did not distinguish among recognition, development, and use. It did not test that sequence. I’m describing questions I want future research to examine because “developing strengths” needs to mean something more specific if we are going to understand what it involves and whether it helps.

We need to follow people over time, with assessments planned at consistent intervals, so we can examine what changes within individuals. We need to account for other influences and test whether adding structured strengths development to existing services contributes to outcomes that matter to the people receiving them.

We also need to continue evaluating the assessment itself. Some individual trait scales need refinement. That work matters because our conclusions depend on how well we are measuring what we say we are measuring.

Independent research and broader samples would help us understand where these findings hold up and where they do not. I also want us to pay attention to everyday functioning. Changes in scores matter, but I want to know what those changes mean in the life of the person completing the assessment.

I’m excited about this publication because it gives us something concrete to investigate. We found an association between greater self-reported trait expression and less distress. Now we need to understand it.

The question that stays with me is whether helping people develop their strengths can contribute to how they feel and function, particularly when life is difficult. I believe that possibility deserves serious study. It also deserves our willingness to learn something different from what we expect.

I started by looking at patterns across months and seasons. What has held my attention is the person behind those patterns. I want to understand more about what they are experiencing, what they recognize in themselves, and what might help them put their strengths to use.

Researchers and behavioral health organizations interested in studying these questions with us, I’d love to talk.

Start a research conversation · Explore the Trait-Based Model

Read the full study in Frontiers in Psychology · Download the final journal PDF

Roop J (2026). Associations between behavioral trait expression, anxiety, and depression in a multi-site recovery sample. Frontiers in Psychology 17:1871291. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1871291.

Author note

Dr. Jason Roop is the developer of the Trait-Based Model and the Trait and Hero Discovery Assessment, and founder and executive director of the Center for Trait-Based Transformation. These roles are disclosed in the published study as a potential conflict of interest.