Background <p>In educational settings where resources and time are limited, effective interventions are crucial to fostering students’ positive youth development and well-being. Two prevalent interventions in schools are psycho-educational and cultural-educational approaches, yet rigorous evaluation of their effectiveness has been lacking.</p> Objectives <p>The primary objective of this study was to contrast the efficacy of psycho-educational and cultural-educational approaches in promoting positive emotions and enhancing positive thinking skills among middle school students.</p> Methods <p>A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted involving 196 middle school students aged 13–15 years. Participants were assessed at three time points: baseline, immediately post-intervention, and at a 3-month follow-up. Repeated measures analysis was utilized to evaluate the outcome variables.</p> Results <p>The results showed that, compared to the cultural-educational approach, the psycho-educational intervention was associated with significantly greater improvements in positive emotions and positive thinking skills. These differential gains were maintained at the 3-month follow-up. In contrast, the gains observed in the cultural-educational group were significantly smaller than those in the psycho-educational group, and these differences were not statistically significant at post-intervention or follow-up when comparing the two approaches. Repeated measures ANOVA and post hoc analyses revealed strong main group and short - term effects on the outcome variables, favoring the psycho - educational intervention.</p> Conclusions <p>Given that the psycho-educational approach demonstrated superior efficacy relative to the cultural-educational approach in this study, it may represent a preferable strategy for resource-constrained schools aiming to improve student well-being. However, the choice between approaches should be contingent upon the specific school context.</p>