Background/Objectives: College and undergraduate students around the world struggle with stress, anxiety, and depression, which have a significant negative influence on their academic performance, social interactions, and general well-being. Creating successful preventative and intervention plans requires an understanding of the many, multi-level factors that contribute to psychological discomfort. The objective of this scoping review was to use the Socio-Ecological Model (SEM) to map the determinants of psychological distress among college students in a comprehensive manner. Methods: A total of 15 review publications published between 2015 and 2024, including narrative reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and umbrella reviews, were analyzed under the guidance of PRISMA ScR. These studies synthesized evidence across various countries, including China, Iran, India, Canada, Egypt, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United States. Results: Academic pressure, financial stress, poor sleep, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and pre-existing mental health issues were all individual-level concerns, with female and minority students being more vulnerable. Strong familial ties and friendships served as protective interpersonal support. Heavy academic workloads, strict grading guidelines, a lack of mental health resources, and unwelcoming campus environments were among the institutional factors. Stigma and socioeconomic disparities are examples of community-level variables that make mental health issues worse. Conclusions: Student mental health is shaped by interrelated factors across all SEM levels. Integrated, multi-level strategies are essential to fostering supportive campuses, strengthening community networks, and implementing inclusive policies that promote mental health equity.

This perspective lays out the challenges and conundrums facing global health and discusses possible solutions applicable in the future. The world is facing numerous challenges that include those associated with globalization, climate change, emerging diseases, continuation of non-communicable diseases, reemerging communicable diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), wars, terrorism, and humanitarian crises, among others. The recent challenges exaggerated by the COVID-19 pandemic have exposed vulnerabilities within healthcare systems, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). The solutions must be interprofessional and multifarious with collaborative efforts and partnerships. One world order seems to be a far-fetched ideal utopian goal, but it can be a remedy for ensuring health for all. In the meantime, strengthening the World Health Organization’s role in coordinating global health efforts and improving its capacity to respond to future health crises will be critical in ensuring that the vision of a unified, healthier world becomes a reality.

Background/Objectives: Use of social media among college students is ubiquitous. Excessive use of social media has been linked to distractions, reduced academic focus, and poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression. The determinants of social media use among college students are not well understood. Hence, the purpose of this study was to conduct a scoping review on the behavioral, demographic, and psychosocial determinants, explore theoretical frameworks, and suggest evidence-based recommendations. Methods: This scoping review was conducted between January 2024 and May 2025 following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, using MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL, and ERIC databases. Peer-reviewed studies were included if they focused on college students (ages 18–30), investigated determinants of social media use, and met predefined inclusion criteria. Results: A total of 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were conducted in Bangladesh, Canada, China, Egypt, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States, and the majority used cross-sectional designs (n = 20). A consistent finding across the reviewed studies was the strong association between social media overuse and symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and emotional dysregulation. Very few theoretical frameworks for understanding the determinants of social media were used. According to the reviewed studies, factors such as fear of missing out, sleep quality, and prolonged social media use consistently emerged as significant predictors of adverse mental health outcomes (p < 0.05). Conclusions: In this study, problematic social media use (PSMU) was linked to increased mental health issues, suggesting that students frequently engage in social comparison and experience feelings of missing out (FoMO), which exacerbate emotional distress. There is a need for integrated approaches in addressing PSMU within educational environments, particularly in fostering healthier digital habits among students. There is a need to conduct more concerted research using longitudinal designs and contemporary theoretical frameworks in this area.

School-based interventions support children’s holistic well-being by promoting mental health, fostering resilience, and enhancing social, academic, and physical development. This systematic review aimed to synthesize current evidence-based research on school mental health promotion interventions. Another objective is to analyze the reported outcomes of interventions to review current policies and available resources. A comprehensive search within MEDLINE (PubMed), CINAHL (EBSCO), and Google Scholar was conducted using different combinations of keywords “school-based”, “intervention”, “mental health”, “evidence-based”, “theory” and “promotion” by using the Boolean operators “AND” and “OR”. Studies were included from December 1, 2017, to October 31, 2024, study design (randomized control trials), age ≤ 18, all genders, and English language. Studies were excluded based on inception year, age ≥ 18 years, study designs other than mentioned above, and non-English language. Quality assessment was performed with the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tool for randomized controlled trials. A total of 24 studies were included, identifying a total of 32 evidence-based mental health interventions. These school-based mental health promotion interventions utilized combined frameworks (n=7), cognitive behavioral therapy (n=5), mindfulness theory (n=3), mental health literacy (n=3), diathesis-stress model (n=3), WHO-approved FRIENDS program (n=2), social cognitive theory(n=1). A combination of programs and frameworks were utilized in 5 out of 24 studies. School-based interventions effectively reduce depression, anxiety, and psychosocial challenges in youth, promoting well-being. More rigorous research is needed to enhance evidence-based interventions, consider contextual influences, and evaluate broader societal benefits of empowering children in mental health prevention.