ABSTRACT
One of the most recent influential constructs based on positive psychology is PERMA, a framework that articulates five major building blocks that contribute to well-being: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. In 2020, 4 additional building blocks were added – physical health, mindset, environment, and economic security – expanding the framework into PERMA+4 to describe 9 building blocks that contribute to well-being and positive functioning. The purpose of this systematic review is to determine if the empirical evidence supports the assertion that PERMA and PERMA+4 are strongly associated and predictive of well-being and positive functioning. While strong associations were found in this review, most of the published empirical research on PERMA was found to be correlational, cross-sectional, and based on a variety of self-report surveys. Implications and recommendations for future research using rigorous experimental designs as well as opportunities for improving the measurements of PERMA and PERMA+4 are discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in 4TU.ResearchData at https://doi.org/10.4121/1fcd3c65-e38d-4bf1-a7ee-6f8b0239c3ed.v1.
Open scholarship
This article has earned the Center for Open Science badge for Open Data. The data are openly accessible at https://doi.org/10.4121/1fcd3c65-e38d-4bf1-a7ee-6f8b0239c3ed.v1