Social Determinants of Mental Health

Dear Colleagues,

Mental disorders are one of the greatest public health problems of our time. Major depression, with a prevalence of 4.4% in the world population, is the most disabling disease while anxiety disorders, with a global prevalence of 3.6%, are in the sixth position. Researchers view mental disorders as having complex causes involving an interplay of biological, psychological and social factors.

The social determinants of mental health are the social and economic factors (such as socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood, employment, social support networks, health services) that influence people´s mental health. Interventions targeting social determinants are likely to exert small but, from a public health point of view, potentially important effects on population mental health. Therefore, the investigation of the social determinants that affect mental health is essential.

This Topical Collection in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is devoted to recent findings on “Social Determinants of Mental Health” to make a substantial contribution to knowledge gaps in understanding  how social determinants influence mental health in many positive and negative ways.

A wide range of topics will be included in this issue, related, but not limited to, stress, living conditions, education, unemployment and job security, employment and working conditions, housing, social exclusion, mental health services, gender, race and disability.

We welcome the submission of Original Research Articles, Short Reports, Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis targeting any of these topics and beyond. We would be delighted to attract as high diversity and heterogeneity of submissions across geographies and jurisdictions as possible. Studies using innovative research methods to study these topics are most welcome.

Dr. Emma Motrico
Dr. María Luisa Rodero-Cosano
Dr. Jose A. Salinas-Perez
Dr. Sonia Conejo-Cerón
Dr. Nasser Bagheri
Dr. Giulio Castelpietra
Collection Editors

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