Description

The Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) is a 14-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure positive mental health across three domains: emotional well-being, psychological well-being, and social well-being. Each item assesses the frequency of specific positive mental health experiences over the past month using a 6-point Likert scale. The MHC-SF captures how often individuals feel happy, function effectively in personal life, and engage positively in community life.

AI/AN Communities where the measure has been used

Unspecified

Demographics of AI/AN participants where the scale has been used

Adults

Notes on adaptations or modifications

N/A

Modality and administration

Self report; interviewers conducted in‐person or phone interviews (computer‐assisted or paper‐and‐pencil survey).

Scoring

Respondents answer how frequently they have experienced each item in the past month, using a 6-point scale: 0 = Never, 1 = Once or twice, 2 = About once a week, 3 = 2 or 3 times a week, 4 = Almost every day, 5 = Every day. The overall mental health score is derived by summing responses across the items, allowing for classification of individuals as flourishing, languishing, or moderately mentally healthy.

Psychometric evidence

(Lamers et al., 2010): Cronbach’s alpha: .89

Citation(s)

  • Keyes, C. L., Wissing, M., Potgieter, J. P., Temane, M., Kruger, A., & van Rooy, S. (2008). Evaluation of the Mental Health Continuum–Short Form (MHC–SF) in Setswana‐Speaking South Africans. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 15(3), 181–192. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.572
  • Lamers, S. M. A., Westerhof, G. J., Bohlmeijer, E. T., ten Klooster, P. M., & Keyes, C. L. M. (2010). Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of the Mental Health Continuum‐Short Form (MHC‐SF). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 67(1), 99–110. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.20741
  • Sittner, K. J., Herman, K. A., Gonzalez, M. B., & Walls, M. L. (2023). A longitudinal study of positive mental health and coping among Indigenous adults with type 2 diabetes. Anxiety, stress, and coping, 36(3), 339–352. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615806.2022.2076082
  • Gonzalez, M. B., Sittner, K. J., Saniguq Ullrich, J., & Walls, M. L. (2021). Spiritual connectedness through prayer as a mediator of the relationship between Indigenous language use and positive mental health. Cultural diversity & ethnic minority psychology, 27(4), 746–757. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000466

    Maudrie, T., Hautala, D., Caulfield, L., Mcpherson, J., Moore, L., Dickerson, J.,Vital, J.,  Lafloe, B., Norris, A., Lessard, K., Stately, A.,  Bird, Blue, V., Walls, M., & O’Keefe, V. (2026). What Nourishes Us: Psychometric Validation of Culturally Grounded Measures of Indigenous Nourishment in a Cross-Sectional Study of 2 Urban Native Communities. Public health nutrition. 29. 10.1017/S1368980026102262.