The influence of social, demographic and physical factors on positive mental health in children , adults and older people.

Mental health is fundamental to good health and quality of life and also infl uences social and economic outcomes across the lifespan. In the UK, Europe and globally, there has been an increasing recognition of the importance of mental health and wellbeing to overall health in recent years (WHO, 2001; 2002, 2004a; 2004b; Jané-Llopis and Anderson 2005; Mental Health Foundation, 2005; NIMHE, 2005). The WHO European Mental Health Declaration and Action Plan (WHO, 2005) and the EC Mental Health Green Paper and Strategy (European Commission, 2005) highlight two emerging themes: 1) the social and economic prosperity of Europe will depend on improving mental health and wellbeing; 2) promoting mental health will also deliver improved outcomes for people with mental health problems.peer-reviewe