A narrative research synthesis of principal well-being: Research evidence from 1978 to 2024

This narrative research synthesis aimed to review the principal well-being literature published from 1978 to 2024 for 47 years. With a sample of 80 journal articles, this review conceptualized the principal well-being construct, proposed a conceptual framework, and presented future directions for a principal well-being knowledge base intertwining theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and practical challenges and concerns. Particularly, seven approaches (e.g. physical, emotional, social, cognitive, psychological, spiritual, and hybrid well-being) of defining principal well-being, three categories of antecedents, namely personal, school, and contextual, and the individual consequences of principal well-being were synthesized. It is expected that future reviews of principal well-being will pick up where this review leaves off. Future research will scrutinize the recommendations from this review to find a more sensible way to advance the intellectual knowledge of principal well-being science and promote principal well-being in education. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s).