The relationship between academic resilience and depression among Chinese adolescents: a chain mediation model of perceived academic pressure and anxiety.

The relationship between academic resilience and adolescents' depression remains unanalyzed. This study aims to examine the relationship between academic resilience and adolescent depression in China based on the conservation of resources theory, revealing the mediating roles of perceived academic pressure and anxiety. This study employs data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS; 2014-2015), which includes 7,328 Chinese adolescents. Model 6 of the PROCESS macro program in SPSS 24.0 software and the bias-corrected percentile bootstrap method were employed to examine the mediating effect of perceived academic pressure and anxiety. The results showed that academic resilience was significantly and negatively related to depression, perceived academic pressure, and anxiety among adolescents. Adolescents' depression was significantly and positively related to both perceived academic pressure and anxiety. Perceived academic pressure and anxiety not only served as separate mediators between academic resilience and adolescents' depression but also played a chain-mediating role. In theory, this study revealed the mediating roles of perceived academic pressure and anxiety, thereby enriching the existing literature. In practice, schools should enhance students' academic resilience and reduce their perceived academic pressure and anxiety, thereby effectively alleviating their depression.