The International Journal of Indian Psychology ISSN 2348-5396 (e) | ISSN: 2349-3429 (p) Volume 3, Issue 1, No.6, DIP: C03109V3I12015 http://www.ijip.in | October – December, 2015 © 2015 I K Singh, S Sharma; licensee IJIP. This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Self-Perception, Character Strengths and Happiness Factors among North Indian Adolescents Kamlesh Singh 1 , Swati Sharma 2 * ABSTRACT Positive psychology emphasizes the need to study positive traits related to positive human functioning. These traits help individual flourish beyond mere absence of illness. The concept of self and character strengths is made of many such traits. The present study aimed to understand the perceptions of adolescents about self, character strengths and happiness. A total of 1323 adolescents of North India aged 11-19 years (814 male and 509 female, Mean =15.35 years, SD = 1.39) participated in the study. Qualitative data was collected via semi-structured interviews. Recurring themes were identified and percentage of responses in each category was calculated. Results were mostly found to be similar across gender. Majority of adolescents were found to be satisfied with their physical appearance and dressing style. Character strengths like self- regulation, honesty and kindness were found most desirable in the study. Few differences were noted in description of ideal qualities of a man and woman. Present paper describes comprehensively perceived factors related to self, character strengths and happiness among North Indian adolescents. Keywords: Self, Character Strengths, Happiness, Adolescents Positive psychology focuses on the need to study positive traits related to positive human functioning[ i , ii ]. These traits helps individual flourish beyond mere absence of illness. Adolescents’ perception of self, ideal qualities in self & others and character strengths are made of many such traits. Individuals possess these traits in varying degrees thus making up their unique profiles. Self-Perception has been related to adolescents’ mental health and happiness by various researchers [ iii ]. Demographic variables like age, place of residence, gender has also been found related to mental health and happiness of adolescents [ iv , v ]. Peterson and Seligman [ vi ] developed a system of classification of character strengths based on review of historical and contemporary literature across multiple fields such as ethics philosophy and psychology. Their classification includes 24 different strengths of character classified under 1 Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi 2 PhD Research Scholar, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Delhi *Corresponding Author