# Loneliness and adolescent mental health: a multilevel examination of socio-ecological factors across Czech schools

## TL;DR

This study explores how school environments and socio-ecological factors affect loneliness and mental health in Czech adolescents, finding that individual and family factors are key.

## Contribution

The study introduces a multilevel analysis of socio-ecological factors linking loneliness to adolescent mental health across schools.

## Key findings

- Boys reported better mental health and lower loneliness than girls, with differences in family and peer support.
- Mental health was positively linked to family and health factors, but negatively to loneliness and academic stress.
- School-level factors had minimal impact on the loneliness-mental health relationship, suggesting uniform influences across schools.

## Abstract

Adolescent loneliness and mental health have become escalating public health concerns. However, despite previous findings, research on how the school environment influences the relationship between loneliness and mental health remains scarce.

Therefore, the objectives of this study are to identify key socio-ecological factors associated with adolescent mental health, examine the gender differences in socio-ecological factors and investigate whether the association between loneliness and mental health varies across individual schools.

Data were drawn from the 2021/22 Czech dataset of the HBSC study, comprising 14,588 Czech adolescents aged 11–15 years old. Descriptive statistics and gender comparisons were conducted, followed by multilevel linear regression analyses accounting for the hierarchical structure of the data (students nested within schools). The nested models examined associations between mental health and key predictors using random intercepts and random slopes.

Boys reported better mental health, higher life satisfaction, stronger self-rated health and lower loneliness than girls. Boys also experienced better family support, communication and more frequent family meals. Girls reported more peer support, stronger preferences for online communication and greater academic pressure. Mental health was positively associated with family and health-related variables, and negatively with loneliness, bullying and academic stress. The relationship between loneliness and mental health was consistent across schools, with minimal variation attributable to school-level factors.

While gender-based differences were observed, loneliness consistently showed a strong negative association with mental health for boys and girls. These findings emphasise the central role of individual and family-related factors in adolescent mental health. They also suggest that in more structurally and culturally homogeneous educational systems, school-level differences in mental health may be limited, with wider socioeconomic and cultural influences operating relatively uniformly across schools. This underscores the importance of system-wide and family-focused approaches as well as national school-based programmes.