Exploring the Associations Between Resilience, Perceived Stress, Academic Expectation Stress, and Depressive Problems Among Adolescents: A Network Analysis

INTRODUCTION: Psychological resilience equips adolescents to manage distress and foster positive development. However, its multidimensional nature and dynamic relationships with stress and mental health make it difficult to identify specific intervention targets. This study used network analysis to examine the relationships between resilience, perceived stress, academic expectation stress, and depressive problems, identify key resilience processes, and explore developmental differences across adolescence. METHODS: An undirected network model was estimated in a sample of 3336 adolescents in Singapore (mean age of 13.6 years, 54.4% females). Cross-sectional surveys were conducted from 2019 to 2021 and the present study uses the: Singapore Youth Resilience Scale (resilience; 10 nodes), Youth Self-Report (depressive problems; two nodes), Perceived Stress Scale (stress; two nodes), and Academic Expectation Stress Inventory (academic expectation stress; two nodes). RESULTS: The network revealed clear clustering of protective and stress-distress nodes, with perceived helplessness emerging as the most central node. Four resilience domains-emotional regulation, relationships/social support, personal control, and positive self-image/optimism-served as key bridge nodes linking resilience and stress-distress clusters. Personal confidence is highly connected within its domain, suggesting a central role in reinforcing other resilience processes. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the overall network structure was largely consistent across adolescence, although differences in the strength of specific edges involving the key resilience domains were observed. CONCLUSION: Network modeling identified key resilience processes linking stress and depressive problems, highlighting potential intervention targets within the broader stress-distress system. Together, the findings provide insights into developmentally informed and ecologically grounded hypotheses to further develop resilience interventions.