Enhancing adolescent social and emotional well‑being

1. Introduction

Recent evidence points to a marked decline in adolescent social and emotional well-being and mental health across nearly all OECD countries, raising growing concern among policymakers and researchers alike (McGorry et al., 2024[1]; 2024[2]; OECD, 2026[3]). In almost all OECD countries, adolescents today report lower levels of life satisfaction and poorer mental health than they did a decade ago (OECD, 2025[4]). These trends do not affect boys and girls equally. On average, girls are around twice as likely as boys to report low life satisfaction and experience poorer mental health, with steeper declines over time (World Health Organisation, 2024[5]; Marquez et al., 2024[6]). More broadly, sex disparities extend across many dimensions of adolescents’ social and emotional well-being, reflecting the distinct but overlapping risks that boys and girls face during adolescence.

Adolescence is a critical developmental period marked by rapid physical, cognitive and psychosocial changes, alongside heightened exposure to new challenges such as peer influence, identity formation and increasing academic expectations. These transitions are commonly associated with a decline in social and emotional well-being, understood as the ways young people think, feel and behave in relation to themselves and others. Social and emotional well-being encompasses the development of emotional security and self-regulation, the experience of positive interpersonal and social outcomes, broader subjective well-being – including life evaluations, affective states (such as happiness, joy, sadness and stress) and a sense of living well – and mental health (OECD, 2021[7]; 2026[8]).

Given the long-term consequences of social and emotional well-being in adolescence for a wide range of adult outcomes – including mental and subjective well-being, physical health, economic stability and employability – adolescence represents a critical developmental period. It is a time when young people need support in navigating risks from environmental risks in the settings where they live, learn, and socialise, but also a key window of opportunity to foster positive experiences, healthy behaviours, and trajectories that support long-term well-being and successful adult lives. However, positive developmental experiences depend on the extent to which adolescents are supported by their environments. As highlighted in the OECD Child Well-Being Measurement Framework (Box 1), this includes supportive relationships within the family (with parents, caregivers and siblings), at school (with peers, teachers and educators, and other support staff), in the wider community (with neighbouring peers and other community members), and in digital spaces. During adolescence, these environments can also become sources of increasing pressure to conform to norms and stereotypes about males and females, creating distinct opportunities and challenges for boys’ and girls’ social and emotional well-being.

Box 1. What environments shape adolescents’ social and emotional well-being?

Research on child well-being increasingly recognises the importance of the environments and settings in which children and adolescents grow up, requiring a multi-level or “ecological” approach covering both child well-being outcomes and potential drivers and influences (Bronfenbrenner, 1979[9]; 1989[10]; Minkkinen, 2013[11]). Rooted in the understanding that children should be able to both enjoy a “good” childhood in the here and now, and have the opportunity to develop skills and abilities that allow them to prepare for the future, the OECD Child Well-Being Measurement Framework integrates the different dimensions of child well-being – material well-being, physical health, social, emotional and cultural well-being, and cognitive development and educational well-being – recognising them as largely interdependent. The Framework’s multi-level structure further incorporates the drivers shaping child well-being, including the activities, behaviours and relationships children in their different daily environments.

Social, emotional and cultural outcomes cover outcomes relating to children and adolescents’ behaviours, emotions, and thoughts and feelings towards themselves and others, as well as related outcomes tied to social and cultural identities. This area covers many of the more “subjective” aspects of children’s well-being, ranging from basic emotional security and children’s sense of safety to their sense of identity and social identity, their sense of belonging, and their over-arching life satisfaction. It also covers children’s socio‑emotional skills, mental health status, and psychological well-being. While boundaries are not always clear-cut, social and emotional well-being generally refers to individuals’ ability to manage emotions, build positive relationships, and maintain mental health, whereas cultural well-being relates to a sense of identity, belonging, and connection to one’s cultural values, traditions, and communities.

Figure 1. The OECD Child Well-Being Measurement Framework

Source: OECD (2021[7]), Measuring what Matters for Child Well-Being and Policies, https://doi.org/10.1787/e82fded1-en.

This paper makes the case for a gender-sensitive approach to creating supportive environments that foster adolescents’ social and emotional well-being. Drawing from the OECD Child Well-being Data Portal, section 2 of this paper provides an overview adolescents’ social and emotional well-being across several outcomes, highlighting key trends and risk patterns in social and emotional well-being and manifestation of problematic outcomes. Section 3 explores the role of femininity and masculinity norms and stereotypes in shaping different social and emotional well-being outcomes in adolescent boys and girls. Finally, section 4 discusses the need to create safe and supportive environments for adolescents across their home, school, neighbourhood, and online, and how these supports can respond to boys’ and girls’ needs in a gender-sensitive way. The complements existing work on how healthcare systems can adapt to better support young people’s mental health, in co‑ordination with family and school-based interventions (OECD, 2025[4]).