Social Sciences and Humanities Open (Jan 2024)
A socio-ecological approach of evidence on associations between social environmental factors and mental health outcomes of young adults: A systematic review
Abstract
Background: The deteriorating mental health of young adults necessitates a comprehensive understanding of factors associated with mental health. This review adopts a socio-ecological model to explore the impact of social environmental factors on mental health outcomes across individual, micro, meso, and macro levels, both in offline and online contexts. In this study, the social environment is considered to consist of interpersonal relationships, community dynamics, and cultural influences, encompassing individual interactions, family connections, peer relationships, and broader societal contexts such as school, neighbourhood, social media, and the workplace. Method: Following the PRISMA guidelines, this systematic review included studies conducted in Western countries among young adults aged 16 to 27. Quantitative research designs were eligible for inclusion to systematically assess exposure of social environmental factors and their associations with mental health outcomes (MHOs). The social environmental factors were clustered and organized within the layers of the socio-ecological model (i.e., individual, micro, meso, and macro levels). Results: The review included 43 studies with 280 associations between social environmental factors and MHOs (both positive and negative). A total of 22 exposure clusters was created. Four exposure clusters demonstrated a positive association with MHOs, these included cognitive social capital (individual level), family circumstances (micro level), social climate (meso level), and online social support (online level). Five exposure clusters exhibited a negative association with MHOs, encompassing lack of cognitive social capital (individual level), lack of social support (micro level), negative parental influence (micro level), family disfunction (micro level), and tense social climate (meso level). Conclusion: Associations between social environmental clusters and MHOs were found at individual, micro, meso and online levels. The majority of included studies focused on micro- and online levels of the social environment. For understanding the impact of the social environment on mental health, it is crucial for future studies to consider interactions between layers (individual-micro-meso-macro-online) of the socio-ecological model.
