Does perceived stress moderate the association between depressive symptoms and socioemotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties in adolescence?

More and more students report high level of perceived stress during childhood and adolescence, which is associated with socioemotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties. This study aims-based on the cognitive vulnerability-transactional stress theory-to examine perceived stress in early adolescence as a potential moderator in the association between depressive symptoms and socioemotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties from early to middle adolescence. Results of latent moderated structural equations with questionnaire data from a longitudinal study with 1,088 German students (Time 1: Mage  = 13.70, SD = 0.53; Time 2: N = 845, Mage  = 15.32, SD = 0.49) indicate that perceived stress functions as a moderator in the above-mentioned association and dominates the interaction if perceived strongly.