Adolescents academic success is shaped by resilience, emotion regulation, and social support, yet cross-cultural differences in these processes remain underexplored. This study investigated the latent mediating effect among psychological resilience, emotion regulation, academic self-efficacy, and perceived social support in Chinese and Ghanaian adolescents. Using multigroup structural equation modeling (MSEM) with a sample of 2000 participants, the study tested hypotheses on measurement invariance, structural associations, mediation, and moderated mediation. Results from measurement invariance tests confirmed that the constructs were comparable across groups, with good fit indices (CFI ≥ 0.90, RMSEA ≤ 0.07) supporting configural, metric, and scalar invariance. Structural path analyses revealed significant positive associations among all constructs, with effects generally stronger among Chinese adolescents. It was found that the relationship between resilience and emotion regulation was higher in China than in Ghana. Mediation analyses further indicated that emotion regulation and social support transmitted the influence of resilience on academic self-efficacy, with single mediators explaining 20%–28% of the variance and the total indirect effect accounting for 48%. Emotion regulation emerged as the strongest mediator. Moderated mediation analyses showed that these pathways were more pronounced in China (total indirect effect: B = 0.37 vs. 0.20; index = 0.17, 95% CI = [0.07, 0.29], p < 0.01), reflecting cultural emphases on emotional control, academic diligence, and structured social networks. Findings highlight the importance of considering cultural context in adolescent development research. Contextually relevant psychological and educational interventions are recommended to strengthen resilience, emotion regulation, and support systems in both China and Ghana.
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