Resilience Moderates the Effect of Stress on Depressive Symptoms in Adolescent Girls

Objectives: We examined whether resilience moderated the impact of stress on depressive symptoms in adolescent girls. Methods: Participants were 510 6th through 12th grade girls who completed a health survey. Hierarchical multiple regression examined the moderating effect of resilience on the relationship between stress and depressive symptoms. Results: There were sig- nificant main effects for stress (β = .51, p < .001) and resilience (β = -.25, p < .001). The interaction of stress and resilience revealed a moderating effect (β = -.15, p < .001), such that the relation- ship between stress and depressive symptoms was attenuated for students with higher resil- ience. Conclusions: Adolescent girls with higher resilience appeared protected from the impact of stress on depressive symptoms.