PERMA Profiler

Citation: Butler, J., & Kern, M. L. (2016). The PERMA-Profiler: A brief multidimensional measure of flourishing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 6(3), 1-48.

Items available here

PMID or DOI: doi:10.5502/ijw.v6i3.1

Main construct measured: flourishing

Sub-constructs measured: N/A

Available subscales: positive and negative emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment, health

Description: “In his 2011 book Flourish, Dr. Martin Seligman, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the founders of the field of positive psychology, defined 5 facets of wellbeing: PERMA (positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, accomplishment). The PERMA-Profiler measures these five pillars, along with negative emotion and health.”

Number of items: 23 items (short-form includes 15 items, but full measure is recommended)

Example of statement/item: “How often do you lose track of time while doing something you enjoy?”

Response options: All questions are scored on an 11-point scale ranging from 0 “never”, “terrible”, and “not at all”, to 10 “always”, “excellent”, and “completely” depending on the question.

Total score: “Scores are calculated as the average of the items comprising each factor.” More scoring information can be found here.

Examples of studies:

Stiglbauer, B., Weber, S., & Batinic, B. (2019). Does your health really benefit from using a self-tracking device? Evidence from a longitudinal randomized control trial. Computers in Human Behavior94, 131–139.

Umucu, E., & Lee, B. (2020). Examining the impact of COVID-19 on stress and coping strategies in individuals with disabilities and chronic conditions. Rehabilitation Psychology, 65(3), 193–198.

Bartholomaeus, J. D., Van Agteren, J. E. M., Iasiello, M. P., Jarden, A., & Kelly, D. (2019). Positive aging: The impact of a community wellbeing and resilience program. Clinical Gerontologist: The Journal of Aging and Mental Health42(4), 377–386.

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