The Well-Being of California School Board Members
type: CreativeWork
description: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the well-being of California school board members. Using an adapted Workplace PERMA-Profiler, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with 144 school board members to investigate the study's research questions. Pearson correlation analyses and hierarchical multiple regression were used to examine the relationships between overall well-being and the Workplace PERMA-Profiler domains. Differences in overall well-being and PERMA domain scores across age groups and years of service were examined using one-way analyses of variance with Tukey HSD post hoc comparisons. Results indicated that each PERMA domain was positively associated with overall well-being, whereas loneliness and negative emotion were negatively associated with well-being. Participants aged 30 to 44 reported significantly higher scores across most well-being measures than those aged 45 to 59. In addition, school board members who had served four or more terms reported higher levels of well-being than their less experienced counterparts. These findings contribute to the limited literature on the well-being of elected school board members and provide a foundation for future research examining factors that support the health, effectiveness, and longevity of educational governance leaders.
abstract: The primary purpose of this study was to examine the well-being of California school board members. Using an adapted Workplace PERMA-Profiler, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with 144 school board members to investigate the study's research questions. Pearson correlation analyses and hierarchical multiple regression were used to examine the relationships between overall well-being and the Workplace PERMA-Profiler domains. Differences in overall well-being and PERMA domain scores across age groups and years of service were examined using one-way analyses of variance with Tukey HSD post hoc comparisons. Results indicated that each PERMA domain was positively associated with overall well-being, whereas loneliness and negative emotion were negatively associated with well-being. Participants aged 30 to 44 reported significantly higher scores across most well-being measures than those aged 45 to 59. In addition, school board members who had served four or more terms reported higher levels of well-being than their less experienced counterparts. These findings contribute to the limited literature on the well-being of elected school board members and provide a foundation for future research examining factors that support the health, effectiveness, and longevity of educational governance leaders.
author: Hoque, Lamiya A.
keywords: well-being, school boards, flourishing, governance roles, professional development, boardsmanship, Educational Leadership
date published: 2026-08-01T07:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:38:47Z
provider: Chapman University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Chapman University