Child and adolescent mental health is an urgent global concern, with increasing prevalence of anxiety, depression, behavioral problems, neurodevelopmental disorders, and self-harm. Rapid social changes, academic pressures, digital and social media influences, and the lingering psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have intensified vulnerabilities in this age group. Persistent gaps remain in early detection, equitable access to care, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the safe integration of evidence-based innovations into clinical and community settings.

This Collection aims to provide a comprehensive platform for emerging research, critical reviews, and practice-based insights that advance understanding of mental health challenges among children and adolescents—while highlighting transformative innovations. We especially welcome studies on digital health and artificial intelligence (AI), including AI-assisted screening, machine learning–driven predictive models, tele-mental health, virtual reality therapies, and mobile applications designed for youth and families.

Recognizing that digital and AI-driven approaches carry unique risks for young populations, this Collection places strong and explicit emphasis on addressing the ethical, access, and data-privacy challenges embedded in these technologies. We actively encourage submissions that explore:

• Ethical safeguards and governance models for responsible AI use in youth mental health, including algorithmic transparency, bias mitigation, informed consent, and child-safeguarding principles;

• Data-privacy and security frameworks that protect sensitive behavioral, emotional, and biometric data collected through digital platforms;

• Equitable access challenges, including digital divides, disparities in device/internet availability, structural inequities, and cultural or linguistic barriers that limit benefit from digital innovations;

• Evaluation of risks, such as data misuse, surveillance, stigmatization, or unintended harms resulting from automated decision-making;

• Policy, regulatory, and implementation guidelines that ensure digital and AI tools are safe, trustworthy, and centered on the rights and well-being of children and adolescents.

By elevating these critical concerns, the Collection seeks to promote innovations that are not only technologically advanced but also ethically responsible, privacy-protective, culturally sensitive, and accessible across diverse global contexts.

In addition to digital innovations, the Collection welcomes scholarship on school-based programs, family-centered care, trauma-informed interventions, and community-level strategies. Bringing together perspectives from nursing, psychiatry, psychology, public health, data science, social sciences, and education, this Collection aims to stimulate global dialogue, strengthen evidence-based practice, and support the development of safe, scalable, and person-centered mental health solutions. Ultimately, the goal is to enhance resilience, reduce stigma, expand equitable access to quality care, and shape the future of child and adolescent mental health worldwide.

Keywords:

• Child mental health

• adolescent mental health

• Pediatric psychiatry

• cytogenetics

• neurodevelopmental Disorders

• Behavioral disorders

• Anxiety and depression

• Self-harm and suicide prevention

• Early identification and prevention

• Community-based mental health care

• Mental health nursing

• Artificial intelligence in mental health

• Tele-mental health

• mHealth applications

• Virtual reality–based interventions

• Ethical AI in youth mental health

This collection examines the complex interplay between gender and psychosocial factors in shaping mental health across diverse populations. Giving equal attention to both domains, it brings together empirical and theoretical contributions from psychology, psychiatry, public health, and the social sciences to analyze how gender norms, identities, roles, and inequalities intersect with psychosocial dimensions such as social support, stigma, stress, violence, work and family conditions, and broader structural determinants. Adopting intersectional perspectives and context-sensitive methodologies, the contributions seek not only to document how gendered arrangements and psychosocial contexts jointly contribute to mental health disparities, but also to identify protective processes and promising avenues for prevention and intervention. In doing so, this collection aims to advance a more integrated and nuanced understanding of how gender and psychosocial factors influence mental health experiences and to inform policies and practices that promote equity and well-being.

Submissions are welcome on mental health in relation to gender and/or psychosocial factors across diverse populations and settings. We particularly encourage contributions that adopt a gender perspective, an intersectional approach, or other critical frameworks that illuminate how social positions, identities, and contexts shape mental health outcomes, access to care, and experiences of distress and well-being. Empirical, theoretical, and methodological articles that advance understanding of these issues or offer innovative insights with clear implications for research, practice, or policy will be considered especially relevant for this Collection.

These are some suggested, though by no means exhaustive, thematic lines and study designs for contributions. Submissions may, for example, address: (1) gender norms, roles, and systemic imbalances in relation to common psychological problems and health; (2) how gender interacts with other social locations such as sexual orientation, ethnicity/race, disability, migration, and chronic illness; (3) psychosocial processes including stigma, social support, caregiving, work–family balance, discrimination, and stress/trauma; and (4) implications for prevention, clinical practice, and policy (e.g., gender-transformative interventions, workplace or educational policies, etc.). We particularly welcome longitudinal and cross-sectional empirical studies, qualitative and mixed-methods research, intervention or implementation studies, and theoretical or model papers that address a wide range of determinants (e.g., gendered labor, caregiving, stigma, minority stress, chronic illness, body image, sexuality, etc.). However, other innovative and relevant proposals that fall within the broader scope of gender and mental health are also highly encouraged.

Keywords:

Gender; Mental Health; Psychosocial Factors; Well-being