{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T04:46:10Z","timestamp":1782794770197,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1782777600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To examine theoretically informed association patterns linking different types of academic stress to depression among high school students and to investigate the roles of parent\u2013child communication and self-efficacy within a proposed moderated serial mediation model.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Using convenience sampling, a cross-sectional survey was conducted among 967 high school students in northwestern China. Measures included four types of academic stress (parental, self-imposed, teacher, and social stress), perceived stress (PSS-14), loneliness (UCLA-LS3), parent\u2013child communication (PACS), self-efficacy (GSES), and depression (KADS-11). A moderated serial mediation model was tested with PROCESS Model 83 and 5,000 bootstrap resamples, specifying perceived stress and loneliness as sequential mediators and parent\u2013child communication and self-efficacy as moderators. An EBICglasso psychometric network analysis was further used to provide supplementary descriptive evidence to support the findings.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      All four types of academic stress were indirectly associated with depression through the serial pathway involving perceived stress and loneliness, with all 95% confidence intervals excluding zero. Self-imposed stress showed the strongest indirect effect (\n                      <jats:italic>b<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.036), whereas teacher stress showed the weakest (\n                      <jats:italic>b<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.013). Social stress additionally showed a distinctive association with loneliness beyond perceived stress (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.22,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001), and this indirect effect (\n                      <jats:italic>b<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f0.176) was the largest among all pathways. Parent\u2013child communication significantly attenuated the association between self-imposed stress and perceived stress (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f\u22120.19,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001). Self-efficacy significantly attenuated the association between perceived stress and loneliness (\n                      <jats:italic>\u03b2<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f\u22120.22,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f&amp;lt;\u202f0.001), showing a stronger moderating association than parent\u2013child communication. In the network analysis, perceived stress showed the highest strength and closeness centrality, self-efficacy showed the highest betweenness centrality, and social stress retained a direct edge with loneliness.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The findings suggest that different types of academic stress may be linked to adolescent depression through a cognitive\u2013interpersonal pathway involving perceived stress and loneliness. Parent\u2013child communication and self-efficacy may serve as protective factors within this association pattern. These results provide a basis for more targeted interventions for adolescent depression in school contexts.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1841587","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T04:24:50Z","timestamp":1782793490000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The serial mediating effects of different types of academic stress on depression among high school students: a two-layer protective mechanism based on conservation of resources theory"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Yixuan","family":"Duan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Teacher Education, Ningxia University","place":["Yinchuan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions","author":"Aiken","year":"1991"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control","author":"Bandura","year":"1997"},{"key":"ref3","first-page":"33","volume-title":"Family Inventories: Inventories Used in a national Survey of Families across the Family life cycle","author":"Barnes","year":"1982"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1037\/0033-2909.117.3.497","article-title":"The need to belong: desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation","volume":"117","author":"Baumeister","year":"1995","journal-title":"Psychol. Bull."},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"Attachment and Loss: Vol. 1. Attachment","author":"Bowlby","year":"1982"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"723","DOI":"10.1037\/0012-1649.22.6.723","article-title":"Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives","volume":"22","author":"Bronfenbrenner","year":"1986","journal-title":"Dev. Psychol."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"337","DOI":"10.1089\/104454603322572679","article-title":"The Kutcher adolescent depression scale: assessment of its evaluative properties over the course of an 8-week pediatric pharmacotherapy trial","volume":"13","author":"Brooks","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Child Adolesc. Psychopharmacol."},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2090","DOI":"10.1177\/15248380231205828","article-title":"Prevalence of suicidal ideation, suicide plans, and suicide attempts among children and adolescents under 18 years of age in mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"25","author":"Chang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Trauma Violence Abuse"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2776","DOI":"10.1007\/s10826-023-02554-8","article-title":"Parent-child communication about educational aspirations: experiences of adolescents in rural China","volume":"32","author":"Chen","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Child Fam. Stud."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2023.09.035","article-title":"The robust reciprocal relationship between loneliness and depressive symptoms among the general population: evidence from a quantitative analysis of 37 studies","volume":"343","author":"Chen","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"385","DOI":"10.2307\/2136404","article-title":"A global measure of perceived stress","volume":"24","author":"Cohen","year":"1983","journal-title":"J. Health Soc. Behav."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.3758\/s13428-017-0862-1","article-title":"Estimating psychological networks and their accuracy: a tutorial paper","volume":"50","author":"Epskamp","year":"2018","journal-title":"Behav. Res. Methods"},{"key":"ref13","volume-title":"Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional process Analysis: A Regression-based Approach","author":"Hayes","year":"2018"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"513","DOI":"10.1037\/0003-066X.44.3.513","article-title":"Conservation of resources: a new attempt at conceptualizing stress","volume":"44","author":"Hobfoll","year":"1989","journal-title":"Am. Psychol."},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315650982","volume-title":"Multilevel Analysis: Techniques and Applications","author":"Hox","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"24663","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-024-75739-w","article-title":"Psychometric properties of the variants of the Chinese UCLA loneliness scales and their associations with mental health in adolescents","volume":"14","author":"Ip","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sci. Rep."},{"key":"ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1512","DOI":"10.1007\/s10964-023-01770-1","article-title":"Academic stress, academic self-efficacy, and psychological distress: a moderated mediation of within-person effects","volume":"52","author":"Kristensen","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Youth Adolesc."},{"key":"ref18","volume-title":"Stress, Appraisal, and Coping","author":"Lazarus","year":"1984"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1002\/9780470479193","volume-title":"Handbook of Adolescent Psychology","author":"Lerner","year":"2009"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"18","DOI":"10.3724\/SP.J.1041.2025.0018","article-title":"The impact of different types of academic stress on subcomponents of executive function in high school students of different grades","volume":"57","author":"Ma","year":"2025","journal-title":"Acta Psychol. Sin."},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2161","DOI":"10.1007\/s00127-022-02261-7","article-title":"Loneliness and the onset of new mental health problems in the general population","volume":"57","author":"Mann","year":"2022","journal-title":"Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol."},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691611419672","article-title":"A heuristic for developing transdiagnostic models of psychopathology: explaining multifinality and divergent trajectories","volume":"6","author":"Nolen-Hoeksema","year":"2011","journal-title":"Perspect. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"879","DOI":"10.1037\/0021-9010.88.5.879","article-title":"Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies","volume":"88","author":"Podsakoff","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Appl. Psychol."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.1207\/s15327752jpa6601_2","article-title":"UCLA loneliness scale (version 3): reliability, validity, and factor structure","volume":"66","author":"Russell","year":"1996","journal-title":"J. Pers. Assess."},{"key":"ref25","first-page":"35","volume-title":"Measures in Health Psychology: A User\u2019s Portfolio. Causal and Control Beliefs","author":"Schwarzer","year":"1995"},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1288644","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2024.1288644","article-title":"Parent-adolescent discrepancies in educational expectations, relationship quality, and study engagement: a multi-informant study using response surface analysis","volume":"15","author":"Song","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"498","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2018.11.043","article-title":"Prevalence of depressive symptoms among adolescents in secondary school in mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"245","author":"Tang","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"155","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2019.11.118","article-title":"Psychosocial risk factors associated with depressive symptoms among adolescents in secondary schools in mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"263","author":"Tang","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1696981","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1696981","article-title":"Loneliness in adolescence: prevalence, developmental contexts, and interventions","volume":"16","author":"Verity","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"37","DOI":"10.3969\/j.issn.1006-6020.2001.01.007","article-title":"Evidences for reliability and validity of the Chinese version of general self-efficacy scale","volume":"7","author":"Wang","year":"2001","journal-title":"Chin. J. Appl. Psychol."},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"989","DOI":"10.1002\/jad.12471","article-title":"Academic burden and emotional problems among adolescents: a longitudinal mediation analysis","volume":"97","author":"Wang","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Adolesc."},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1300\/J002v36n01_06","article-title":"Chinese adolescents' decision-making, parent-adolescent communication and relationships","volume":"36","author":"Xia","year":"2004","journal-title":"Marriage Fam. Rev."},{"key":"ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.16835\/j.cnki.1000-9817.2010.01.032","article-title":"Preliminary development of the academic stress questionnaire for middle school students","volume":"31","author":"Xu","year":"2010","journal-title":"Chin. J. Sch. Health"},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"760","DOI":"10.3760\/j.issn:0254-6450.2003.09.004","article-title":"An epidemiological study on stress among urban residents in social transition period","volume":"24","author":"Yang","year":"2003","journal-title":"Chin. J. Epidemiol."},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e12205","DOI":"10.1002\/jcv2.12205","article-title":"A systematic review of the association between parent-child communication and adolescent mental health","volume":"4","author":"Zapf","year":"2024","journal-title":"JCPP Advances"},{"key":"ref36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"308","DOI":"10.4172\/2375-4494.1000308","article-title":"Reliability and validity of the eleven item Kutcher adolescent depression scale, Chinese version (KADS-11CV)","volume":"4","author":"Zhou","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Child Adolesc. Behav."}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1841587\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]],"date-time":"2026-06-30T04:24:54Z","timestamp":1782793494000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1841587\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"references-count":36,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1841587"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1841587","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,30]]},"article-number":"1841587"}}