Chinese high school students' academic stress and depressive symptoms: gender and school climate as moderators

In a sample of 368 Chinese high school students, the present study examined the different effects of Chinese high school students' academic stress on their depressive symptoms and the moderating effects of gender and students' perceptions of school climate on the relationships between their academic stress and depressive symptoms. Regression mixture model identified two different kinds of subgroups in the effects of students' academic stress on their depressive symptoms. One subgroup contained 90% of the students. In this subgroup, the students' perceptions of academic stress from lack of achievement positively predicted their depressive symptoms. For the other 10% of the students, academic stress did not significantly predict their depressive symptoms. Next, multinomial regression analysis revealed that girls or students who had high levels of achievement orientation were more likely to be in the first subgroup. The findings suggested that gender and students' perceptions of school climate could moderate the relationships between Chinese high school students' academic stress and their depressive symptoms.