ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to mental health problems as they relate to the school context and to academic failure. We review mental health delivery models and interventions that may prevent or reduce such problems in school. Besides the family and the peer group, the school is probably the most important developmental arena for adolescents. There are three important points to be made in this regard: 1) there is a reciprocal relationship between mental health and academic achievement, 2) the school context may moderate this relationship, making it particularly strong for some adolescents and 3) the school context may work to ameliorate, maintain or worsen both school performance and psychological and behavioral adjustment in its students.
