Editorial: Beyond the usual suspects – broadening the scope of environmental influences in child and adolescent mental health research

Abstract

When we think about which environmental influences affect children and young people's mental health, answers that are ‘close to home’ tend to come to mind, such as relationships, screen time, bullying, stressful life events and poverty. These same factors are also often prioritised in child and adolescent mental health research. More distal factors receive less attention, such as the air we breathe, the materials in our built environment, and the cultural and social norms of the societies in which we live. These factors are embedded in the very structure of our built and social environments, but may be harder to ‘imagine’ as being important, perhaps because they feel less tangible. Findings in this issue of the journal highlight the relevance of these factors for child and adolescent mental health. This editorial will reflect on the importance of these findings and then turn to consider how physical and sociocultural factors can be better integrated in research on child and adolescent mental health, by incorporating novel data sources, diversifying samples and by capturing multiple levels of analysis.