OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between school environment characteristics and risk of poor mental health state in representative sample of Brazilian students aged 13 to 17 (PeNSE-IBGE).

METHODS: A mental health state risk score was elaborated considering a high frequency report (always or most of the time) of feeling sad, feeling very worried with daily things, feeling that no one cares about himself/herself, feeling irritable/nervous/moody about anything, feeling that life is not worth living. For each feeling reported, the score adds a point. A logistic multilevel model evaluated the relation of having a high-risk of poor mental health state (binary variable for those who scored at least 4) with individual and school variables.

RESULTS: Being female (OR = 3.36 [95%CI=3.29–3.42]) feeling that parents don’t understand their problems (OR = 1.64[95%CI=1.63–1.65] for each 1 in a [0-4] intensity score), had suffered bullying by their peers (OR = 1.70[95%CI=1.68–1.71] for each 1 in a [0-3] intensity score) and had suffered abuse/sexual harassment (OR = 1.42[95%CI=1.40–1.45] for each 1 in a [0-2] intensity score) implicated the higher odds of poor mental health state. Being in urban area also increases the odds of high risk of poor mental health state (OR = 1.52[95%CI=1.45–1.60]). About the school environment, for each standard-deviation above the mean school inequality good’s index (Gini’s calculation for goods and services) there is a modest but present higher odds (OR = 1.03[95%CI=1.02–1.05]) taking into count only urban schools. As a protective factor, the school presence of School Health Program reduces the odds of poor mental health (OR = 0.89[95%CI=0.87–0.92]).

CONCLUSIONS: Although the small contribution of the school variables in relation to individual variables, the results indicate the School Health Program as a potential protector factor for mental health that must be investigated and evaluated as public policy.