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IB DP Psychology — Health Psychology (Contexts) | SL & HL | Paper 2
🎯 Learning Intentions By the end of this note, you will be able to:
- Define environmental factors, the stress-diathesis model, and social determinants of mental health using IB-aligned terminology.
- Explain how physical, social, and built environments interact to influence psychological well-being.
- Describe the role of urbanisation, poverty, social support, and nature exposure in shaping mental health outcomes.
- Evaluate research evidence for environmental influences on mental health using supporting and opposing studies in ACAS format.
- Apply environmental factors concepts to a real-world case study from the sociocultural and biological perspectives.
- Discuss the extent to which environmental factors provide a complete explanation of mental health vulnerability and resilience.
- Analyse environmental factors research using relevant concept areas: Bias, Causality, Perspective, and Responsibility.
Introduction & Context
Imagine two children born in the same city, with similar genetic backgrounds, attending different schools. One grows up in a quiet neighbourhood with green parks, stable housing, and close family networks. The other lives in a crowded, noisy apartment block, surrounded by economic hardship and social isolation. By adolescence, their mental health trajectories look strikingly different. What explains this divergence? Genetics alone cannot account for it — something in the world around them is shaping their psychological development.
This is the central question of environmental approaches to mental health: to what extent does the world we inhabit — the physical spaces, social structures, economic conditions, and natural surroundings — determine our psychological well-being? Psychology has increasingly moved beyond purely biological or cognitive explanations to recognise that the environments people live in are powerful predictors of mental health outcomes. Understanding these environmental factors is not just academically important — it has profound implications for public health policy, urban planning, and social justice.
The sociocultural approach in IB Psychology is particularly relevant here, as it examines how the broader context of a person's life — their culture, community, socioeconomic status, and physical surroundings — shapes thought, emotion, and behaviour. Environmental factors sit at the intersection of the sociocultural and biological approaches, since stressful environments can trigger biological stress responses that, over time, alter brain structure and function.
🌱 Analogy — The Soil and the Seed Think of mental health like a plant growing from a seed. The seed carries genetic potential — some seeds are hardier than others. But even the strongest seed will struggle to thrive in poor soil, without sunlight, or in a polluted environment. Conversely, a fragile seed given rich soil, clean water, and shelter can flourish beyond expectations. The environment does not determine everything, but it shapes the conditions under which genetic potential is either expressed or suppressed. This is why two people with similar genetic risks for depression can have very different outcomes depending on where and how they live.
Core Concepts
Before we can evaluate specific environmental influences, we need a framework for understanding how the environment and the individual interact. Not everyone exposed to the same stressful environment develops a mental health condition — some people seem more resilient