Call for papers – CAMH Special Issue 2025 ‘Physical Environmental Influences on the Psychosocial Outcomes of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults’

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) journal invites manuscripts for a special issue entitled ‘Physical Environmental Influences on the Psychosocial Outcomes of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults’ to be edited by Dr. Keri Wong, Dr. Steven Papachristou, Dr. Marta Francesconi, and Dr. Tycho Dekkers. The issue is due for publication in May 2025.

The editors of CAMH are now inviting proposals from prospective authors. This Special Issue aims to capture the latest research on the impact of the built and natural environment on children’s and young adult’s mental health and social outcomes. Despite a burgeoning interest in the topic, there is currently no collection of articles that readers can refer to in order to understand the importance of the relationships between the physical environment and mental health outcomes.

The primary focus of available studies has centred on the role of the built environment in physical health, despite emerging evidence suggesting that it also has a strong impact on mental well-being. Of particular interest to this Special Issue are articles examining the impact of external environmental characteristics on psychosocial outcomes early in life, for both community and non-clinical samples. Exposure to adversities early in life or during critical developmental periods, such as adolescence, have the potential to shape longer-term impacts on later life outcomes. The ultimate aim of this Special Issue is to inform public health policy by offering evidence-based guidance when designing healthy indoor and outdoor built environments for young people.

The Special Issue invites submissions on the following topics, but additional relevant contributions are welcome:

  • The unique contributions and impact of the built environment on children and young people’s mental health
  • The role of the household environment in children and young people’s mental health
  • Access to green and outdoor spaces, and its role on children and young people’s psychosocial development.

The journal welcomes submissions from across the globe in order to provide diverse views and inclusiveness on these important issues.

The aim of this special issue is to bring together high quality, emerging research in this area. This Special Issue accepts the following type of articles: Original articles, systematic reviews, debates, editorial perspectives, and commentaries. Examples of potential papers include among others:

The impact of the physical and built environments on mental health outcomes:

  • How physical environments impact psychosocial wellbeing
  • The role of schools in shaping children’s mental health outcomes
  • Influence of places of work on psychosocial outcomes
  • Neighbourhood characteristics and their connection to internalising and externalising symptoms
  • The impact of air pollution and noise on psychosocial wellbeing
  • The role of green space and blue space in fostering mental health
  • Urbanicity and its relationship with mental health outcomes
  • Transportation systems and their impact on psychosocial outcomes
  • Built environment and its influence on internalising and externalising symptoms
  • Indoor and outdoor spaces and their effects on mental health outcomes
  • Household environments and their association with psychosocial wellbeing.

Outcomes can include (not an exhaustive list):

  • internalising symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depression, loneliness, self-esteem)
  • externalising symptoms (e.g., aggression, hyperactivity)
  • measures of mental well-being / psychological distress
  • measures of psychopathology
  • psychosocial factors such as stress, social trust, social cohesion.

Interested authors should submit a letter of intent as a Microsoft Word document to the CAMH editorial office with ‘Physical Environmental Influences on the Psychosocial Outcomes of Children, Adolescents and Young Adults’ in the subject line by 1 March 2024.

The letter should include the following: a tentative title; a brief description of the proposed submission (up to 500 words) including a clear statement of the methods and findings; a brief explanation of the unique contribution made by the proposed manuscript (under 100 words); names of envisaged co-authors; three potential reviewers (not from the same institution or active collaborators); and contact information for the corresponding author.

The editors will review all letters and invite shortlisted authors to submit full manuscripts. The editors will contact all authors by no later than 15 March 2024 to inform them whether or not they have been invited to submit a full manuscript. If you do not hear back by this date, please notify the CAMH editorial office

Authors will then be asked to submit their full manuscript by no later than 5 June 2024.

Please note that following the letters of intent, all submitted full manuscripts will be subject to the standard robust peer review process and final acceptance is not guaranteed. In some instances, some manuscripts may be accepted for publication in normal CAMH issues outside of the Special Issue.

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