Schools Shape Teen Mental Health, Review Finds, But Evidence Remains Mixed

Adolescents spend a large share of their daily lives in school, making classrooms a central arena for both developmental opportunity and stress. A key contribution of the review is conceptual clarity. The authors distinguish three related but separate constructs: mental health, which extends beyond the mere absence of mental illness; well-being, which captures positive subjective and functional experiences; and biopsychological stress, which refers to the interplay between psychological stress experiences and the body's physiological stress responses.

The review then maps the contextual and individual factors associated with positive adolescent development in school. School-based interventions form the third pillar of the review. The approaches surveyed include programs grounded in social and emotional learning, positive psychology, mindfulness, relaxation techniques, cognitive-behavioral methods, and physical activity.

The overall message is that academic development and health and well-being should be understood as complementary rather than competing goals: schools can pursue both simultaneously. However, the authors caution that the evidence base remains heterogeneous, particularly concerning how effective different interventions are and how reliably biopsychological stress indicators behave across studies. Looking forward, the review calls for longitudinal and methodologically rigorous designs, more systematic examination of biopsychological stress markers such as physiological measures, and research into how supportive school environments and targeted interventions can work together to promote adolescents' positive development.

As a narrative review, it synthesizes existing literature rather than presenting new empirical data, so its conclusions describe the state of the field rather than testing any single program's efficacy.

Subject of Research: Adolescent mental health, well-being, and biopsychological stress in school contexts

Article Title: Adolescents' mental health, well-being, and biopsychological stress in school: a narrative review of school-related correlates and interventions

Article References: Kley, M., Jenni, G., Rodriguez, B., Hoferichter, F., & Wettstein, A. (2026). Adolescents' mental health, well-being, and biopsychological stress in school: a narrative review of school-related correlates and interventions. Frontiers in Education, 11, Article 1973928. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2026.1973928

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.3389/feduc.2026.1973928

Keywords: adolescent mental health, well-being, biopsychological stress, school interventions, teacher-student relationships, peer relationships, social and emotional learning, mindfulness, academic buoyancy, narrative review, Adolescents', mental