Youth well-being is becoming more central to European social policies both in the EU and at a national level. The study of well being has come far in recent years such that the focus has shifted from understandings with a focus on objective measures towards a nuanced analyses including a variety of social and psychological dimensions. At the same time, there have been significant advances in the development of common research instruments and cross-national surveys, both of which facilitate a comparative analysis of well-being. This paper uses evidence from the European Quality of Life Survey 2011 to highlight national differences in mental health and psychological well-being and begins the process of establishing which factors appear to predict positive experiences
