(2016-04-15) The Structure Of Psychological Well-being Before PERMA: Ryff

The Structure of Psychological Well-Being — before PERMA. Between 15 to 20 years before the introduction of the (Martin Seligman) PERMA framework, researchers Carol Ryff and Corey Keyes presented a data-driven model that is comprised of 6 dimensions

Quite obviously, there’s a lot of overlap between the two frameworks, but also subtle differences.

To me, one very interesting feature of the Ryff/Keyes model is the idea that well-being is a higher-order entity. They were able to show statistically there’s a kind of “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”-effect in the data

When talking about the “grand design” of psychological wellbeing these days, most people (at least implicitly) refer to Martin Seligman’s PERMA framework, comprised of the building blocks: positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement. You might also find people who add another letter for vitality, resulting in PERMA-V.