Many of us remember the Character Counts! movement of the 1990s, with its emphasis on trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. At the time, character education felt like common sense. Over the years, however, conversations about character have often been pushed aside by academic metrics, workforce readiness, compliance requirements, and measurable outcomes.

But for nursing students, educators, and healthcare leaders, character is not a nostalgic idea or a “nice extra.” It is central to professional identity, ethical judgment, moral courage, and the ability to flourish in demanding environments.

In my recent article, Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education, I argued that character forms the foundation of ethical leadership and helps explain why moral injury occurs when people are repeatedly pressured to act against deeply held values.

Now, emerging research on adolescent flourishing gives us new language (and new data) for something many educators have long believed: character development is closely connected to well-being, purpose, resilience, and meaningful success.

Character Formation and Human Flourishing

A recent longitudinal study involving more than 22,000 adolescents across 57 schools examined which educational practices were associated with increased student flourishing over time. Students who participated in character-skill programs at least once per month demonstrated a 9% increase in flourishing scores. Students who engaged in classroom discussions focused on values or character skills showed a 7% increase in flourishing scores.

That matters because flourishing is not the same as short-term happiness or academic achievement alone. Flourishing includes meaning, purpose, relationships, health, safety, character, and virtue; all of which matter deeply in nursing education and practice.

For years, educators have sometimes treated character formation and student well-being as separate goals. One belongs to ethics; the other belongs to wellness. One focuses on virtue; the other focuses on mental health. The flourishing research suggests this may be a false distinction.

Character development appears to contribute directly to flourishing.

Why This Matters for Nursing Students

Nursing students are asked to master complex knowledge, develop clinical judgment, communicate under pressure, and prepare for licensure. The NCLEX-RN is not simply a test of memorized facts; it assesses whether future nurses can think safely, prioritize effectively, and make sound decisions in patient-care situations.

That kind of decision-making depends on more than content knowledge. It also depends on responsibility, honesty, courage, fairness, humility, and care for others. In other words, it depends on character.

Students do not develop resilience solely through stress-management techniques. They develop resilience through purpose. They strengthen that purpose through identity. And professional identity is shaped by character.

When nursing students learn responsibility, they become more capable of managing challenges. When they practice fairness and respect, they build healthier team relationships. When they cultivate courage, they become more willing to speak up for patient safety. When they practice compassion and service, they discover meaning beyond performance metrics.

Character becomes one of the pathways through which professional flourishing emerges.

The Higher Education Blind Spot

Higher education has generally embraced concepts such as student engagement, belonging, wellness, and success. Yet conversations about character formation remain comparatively rare. 

This is somewhat paradoxical. 

Universities routinely claim to develop leaders, professionals, and citizens. Yet leadership without character is simply influence. Professional preparation without character becomes technical competence divorced from ethical responsibility. 

In my article, I describe how moral injury can develop when leaders repeatedly find themselves unable to act according to their core values because of institutional pressures or constraints. Character does not cause moral injury; rather, moral injury occurs because character matters. People experience ethical distress precisely because they recognize when something important is at stake.

The flourishing study offers a complementary perspective. If character contributes to flourishing during adolescence, perhaps character also serves as a protective factor across the lifespan, supporting ethical decision-making, resilience, leadership, and professional integrity.

Reframing Character Education

Perhaps the most important lesson from this research is that character formation should not be viewed as an extracurricular activity, a nostalgic educational movement, or a vague call to “be nice.”

Character education is about helping students develop the habits, virtues, and capacities that allow them to live meaningful lives, navigate complexity, maintain integrity under pressure, and contribute to healthy communities.

For nursing students, this matters in every part of preparation: studying for exams, engaging in simulation, learning from clinical experiences, responding to feedback, and preparing to enter a profession grounded in trust.

When students discuss values, practice ethical reasoning, reflect on purpose, and participate in intentional character development, they are not stepping away from academic success. They are building the foundation for long-term flourishing.

The data suggest that character formation and flourishing are deeply interconnected.

Character Still Counts

In an era dominated by metrics, productivity, performance indicators, and technological acceleration, it is easy to assume that character belongs to a previous generation of educational thinking.

But character has not become less important. If anything, it has become more essential.

The recent flourishing research provides empirical support for something educators, parents, mentors, and nurse leaders have intuitively understood for generations: students thrive when they are developing both competence and character.

The lesson is surprisingly simple.

Character formation is not separate from flourishing.

Character formation is one of the ways flourishing happens.

And for future nurses, that matters not only for passing exams, but for becoming the kind of professional patients, families, teams, and communities can trust.

Character still counts—not only because it helps people do what is right, but because it helps people flourish while doing it.

Related Resources

·       Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education by Teresa Maggard Stephens

·       Human Flourishing Program report on adolescent flourishing in schools

·       Christian Schools Australia student flourishing research presentation