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The relationship between positive mental health and well-being was examined in 604 North Indian high school and secondary high school going children aged 11–18 years. The study employed various scales such as Mental Health Continuum-Short Form (MHC-SF; Keyes, 2005), Scale of Positive and Negative Experiences (SPANE) and Flourishing Scale (FS; Diener et al., 2010), World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF, 1996) and Personal Well-being Index Scale-School Going Children (PWI-SC; Cummins & Lau, 2005). The MHC-SF predicted the positive mental health and the various predictors used in this study were SPANE, FS, WHOQOL-BREF and PWI-SC. Positive mental health was found positively correlated with SPANE P, life satisfaction, personal well-being, flourishing and all four domains of quality of life (physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships and environmental health) and negatively correlated with SPANE N. Well-being measures of flourishing, SPANE P, SPANE-N, all four domains of quality of life (physical health, psychological well-being, social relationships and environmental health) significantly predicted children’s positive mental health (49% of variance) and its dimensions like emotional well-being (41% of variance), social well-being (24% of variance) and psychological well-being (47% of variance).

Children and adolescents constitute of almost one third (2.2 billion individuals) of the world’s population however, mental health problems affect 10–20% of children and adolescents worldwide and account for a large portion of the global burden of disease (Kieling et al., 2011). In India, adolescents form 20.5% of the total population (UNICEF, 2011). There are 10% of 5–15 year old children with diagnosable mental health disorders and there are up to 20 million adolescents with a severe mental health disorder (Shastri, 2009). Morrison and Kirby (2010) observed that it is not only the mere absence of risks and problems that influence children’s psychological well-being but also the presence of positive factors in their lives that promote positive development. Protective factors such as positive relationship with peers and teachers, feelings of positive regards, participation in school and community activities, opportunities and skills for communication, recognition of contribution and achievements and sense of security are likely to promote positive mental health in children.