German adult population norm values of the short Warwick Edinburgh mental well-being scale (SWEMWBS)

The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale represents an internationally established inventory to assess population mental well-being. Particularly the short form (SWEMWBS) is recommended for use in Mental Health Surveillance. In the present study, we present normative data of the SWEMWBS for the German adult population.

Data from the telephone survey German Health Update (GEDA) in 2022 representative of the German adult population (48.9% women, 18–98 years) was processed to estimate SWEMWBS percentile norm values, T-values, z-values and internationally comparable logit-transformed raw scores for the total sample (N = 5,606) as well as stratified by sex, age group and sex with age group combinations.

The average mental well-being was comparable to that of other European countries at M = 27.3 (SD = 4.0; logit-transformed: M = 24.79, SD = 3.73). To provide a benchmark, the cut off for low well-being was set at the 15th percentile (raw score: 23; logit-transformed: 20.73), for high well-being at the 85th percentile (raw score: 32; logit-transformed: 29.31).

The present study provides SWEMWBS norm values for the German adult population. The normative data can be used for national and international comparisons on a population level to initiate, plan and evaluate mental well-being promotion and prevention measures.