Relationship between PERMA and children’s wellbeing, resilience and mental health: A scoping review

Abstract

The PERMA (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationship, Meaning, Achievement) model can be used to describe the factors that contribute to wellbeing. As many children face mental health challenges worldwide, strategies to increase wellbeing and resilience have become increasingly desirable. The aim of this scoping review was to establish what is known from the literature about the relationship between the components of PERMA, including character strengths, and primary school-aged children’s mental health, resilience and wellbeing. Four databases were systematically searched, and 20,128 articles were identified, 190 of which were included in the review. The relationships were typically in the expected directions, with PERMA aspects associated with greater wellbeing and resilience, and fewer symptoms of mental illness. There are notable gaps in the existing literature, particularly in the Engagement and Meaning facets of PERMA. Overall, it appears that the components of PERMA do have a positive impact on children and can be considered as an approach for protecting children against mental ill-health.