Current Evidence and Future Directions for Social and Societal Resilience Factors in Response to Societal Challenges and Crises: An Umbrella Review and Expert Rating

Resilient outcomes are the most common response to societal crises. Resilience factors represent multilevel psychosocial resources that increase the likelihood of resilient responses. While resilience research has predominantly focused on individual factors, social and societal factors have received less attention. This umbrella review aimed to identify and summarize evidence on social and societal resilience factors linked to mental health responses during societal challenges in high-income countries. Systematic reviews exploring these associations were identified through searches in three databases up to June 12, 2023. Resilience factors were classified as having favorable, unfavorable, mixed, or non-significant associations with mental health outcomes. Quality appraisal used an adapted AMSTAR-2-tool. Twenty reviews (samples: 2,402–489,419) reported on stressors like pandemics, minority stress, and migration. At the social level, stronger evidence supports the favorable effects of social support, relationship quality, and family support. Societal factors like adequate housing, access to mental health services, and supportive policies were linked to resilience outcomes, though evidence remains sparse or heterogenous for many factors. An expert survey rated social factors as slightly more important than societal ones. Expanding resilience research to include families, workplaces, and societal factors in longitudinal studies will enhance the understanding of resilience from a systemic perspective.