Kley, Marijke; Jenni, Gabriel; Rodriguez, Belén; Hoferichter, Frances; Wettstein, Alexander (2026). Adolescents' mental health, well-being, and biopsychological stress in school: a narrative review of school-related correlates and interventions. Frontiers in Education, 11, pp. 1-21 Frontiers. 10.3389/feduc.2026.1973928

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Adolescents’ mental health, well-being, and stress have become major concerns in educational research and practice. Schools play a central role in this context, as adolescents spend a substantial part of their daily lives in school and encounter both developmental opportunities and stressors within this setting. This narrative review provides an overview of current evidence on adolescents’ mental health, well-being, and biopsychological stress in school. The review is informed by literature searches in peer-reviewed journals, focusing on systematic reviews, meta-analyses, longitudinal studies, and large-scale cross-national studies involving adolescents in school contexts. First, it clarifies these related but distinct constructs, emphasizing that mental health extends beyond the absence of mental illness, well-being captures positive subjective and functional experiences, and biopsychological stress refers to the interplay between psychological stress experiences and physiological stress responses. Second, the review summarizes contextual and individual factors associated with students’ positive development. Contextual factors include teacher-student relationships, teacher support, and peer relationships, whereas individual factors include socio-emotional competencies, motivation, achievement goal orientation, engagement, coping, and academic buoyancy. Third, the review discusses school-based interventions targeting mental health, well-being, and stress, including approaches based on social and emotional learning, positive psychology, mindfulness, relaxation, cognitive-behavioral techniques, and physical activity. Overall, the reviewed literature suggests that students’ academic development and their health and well-being should be understood as complementary rather than competing goals. At the same time, findings remain heterogeneous, particularly regarding intervention effectiveness and biopsychological stress indicators. Future research should therefore use longitudinal and methodologically rigorous designs, examine biopsychological stress markers more systematically, and consider how supportive school environments and targeted interventions can jointly promote adolescents’ positive development.

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