The role of parenting and school connectedness in depression among black and white adolescents

Abstract Over the past decades, adolescent depression has shown an increasing trend. However, there is a lack of research identifying the intertwined relationships between quality parenting practices and school connectedness impacting adolescent depression among diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. This study aims to examine whether the intertwined roles of parenting behaviors and school connectedness impacting depression differ between White and Black adolescents. This study analyzed data from Wave 6 of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (ages = 15–18), including 654 White and Black adolescents. A higher level of aggressive parenting practices was related to a higher level of depression while a higher level of school connectedness was significantly related to lower depression levels for both White and Black adolescents. When the interaction term was added to the model, aggressive parenting significantly interacted with school connectedness in impacting depression levels among White individuals. Findings reveal that the protective effects of school connectedness and the impact of parenting styles differ significantly across adolescent populations. This suggests that uniform school-based interventions may yield inconsistent results depending on the adolescent’s background. Therefore, policy and practice should transition toward more tailored, inclusive strategies that account for the unique social, cultural, and environmental contexts of diverse youth to more effectively reduce depressive symptoms.