Modifying the PERMA profiler to assess student well-being

Student well-being is inexorably bound to modern educational systems and schools have an inherent responsibility to examine student well-being. It is vital that schools have at their disposal a valid and reliable measurement tool to assess student well-being. A popular conceptual framework of well-being is the PERMA model (positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and a sense of accomplishment). The PERMA-Profiler is a scale that focuses exclusively on measuring these factors. However, results from previous validation studies have been mixed with issues arising from items on engagement and its model structure. Thus, the aims of the present study were to (1) modify the PERMA-Profiler to assess student well-being in secondary schools, and (2) evaluate the psychometric properties of the modified PERMA-Profiler. Study one included focus group discussions with 5 teachers and 20 students, followed by a preliminary trial to 387 secondary one (year 7 equivalent) students (194 boys, 193 girls). Several items were modified after analysing the results from study one. Study 2 aimed to validate the amended questionnaire by extending its administration to 3788 secondary one students (2202 boys, 1586 girls) over 17 schools. Results indicated that the questionnaire exhibited good psychometric properties, namely (a) it had excellent reliability indices of coefficient omega, (b) convergent validity was established with school satisfaction and test anxiety and (c) it demonstrated excellent fit with a five-factor model. Furthermore, there was measurement invariance between gender. The modified PERMA-Profiler shows promise as a valid and reliable measurement of student well-being in secondary schools.