mPERMA Guide for Researchers

mPERMA Guide for Researchers [PDF]

mperma: peer-reviewed publication

Heshmati et al. (2023)

Abstract:

PERMA is a multidimensional framework that explains well-being through five hedonic and eudaimonic psychological elements–Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment. Soon after the PERMA framework was proposed, PERMA-Profiler was introduced as a validated assessment tool for measuring these five elements of well-being from a global perspective. The current study aimed to shed further light onto the measurement of PERMA elements, extending it beyond global evaluations, to daily life assessments and the examination of individual differences in their dynamic characteristics. We introduce mPERMA (momentary PERMA), as an EMA-adapted version of the PERMA-Profiler measure, to assess well-being in daily life. Using data collected in an Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) study (N = 160), we first demonstrate the factor structure of mPERMA through a multilevel factor analysis and next examine within-person means and the dynamics of change (e.g., intra-individual variability) in the PERMA elements. Findings revealed that mPERMA displays convergent validity with two global measures of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being, namely Flourishing and Subjective Well-Being. Moreover, dynamical characteristics of the five elements of well-being measured over time, map onto their corresponding hedonic or eudaimonic global measures of well-being. Results of this paper present how dynamical features of well-being in daily life provide novel insights into predicting global well-being.

Full article here.

mPERMA scale

“mPERMA items were adapted for EMA data collection from the PERMA- profiler scale (Butler & Kern, 2016). To this end, the 15 items from the PERMA Profiler, three items corresponding to each PERMA element, were reworded for the present moment replacing the “general” wording of the items. For example, the PERMA profiler item “In general, how often do you feel joyful?” was converted to the statement “I am feeling joyful” with response options ranging from “Not at all” to “Extremely” using a sliding scale of 0 to 100. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were 0.88 for positive emotions, 0.85 for engagement, 0.91 for relationship, 0.92 for meaning and 0.92 for accomplishment” (Heshmati et al., 2023, p.8)

mPERMA Items

Positive Emotions

I am feeling joyful

I am feeling positive

I am feeling contented

Engagement

When I noticed the text message, I was absorbed in what I was doing

When I noticed the text message, I felt excited and interested in the things around me

When I noticed the text message, I had lost track of time because of what I was doing

Relationships

I feel helped and supported by others

I feel loved

I feel satisfied with my personal relationships

Meaning

I lead a purposeful and meaningful life

What I do in my life is valuable and worthwhile

I have a sense of direction in my life

Accomplishments

I am making progress towards accomplishing my goals

I am achieving the important goals I have set for myself

I am handling my responsibilities

Citation (APA 7):

Heshmati, S., Uysal, N. K., Kim, S. H., Oravecz, Z., & Donaldson, S. I. (2023). Momentary PERMA: An adapted measurement tool for studying well-being in daily life. Journal of Happiness Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-023-00684-w