To explore the relationship between parental occupational types and adolescent depression symptoms, providing a basis for promoting adolescent mental health.

Data from the 2018 follow-up survey of the China Family Panel Studies were collected, including demographic information, behavioral lifestyle, depression symptoms, and parental occupations of adolescents aged 10 to 19. Depression symptoms were assessed using the Simplified Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and parental occupational types were classified according to the “Occupational Classification of the People’s Republic of China (2022 Edition)”. A multivariate logistic regression model was employed to analyze the association between parental occupational types and adolescent depression symptoms.

In total, 1 971 adolescents were analyzed, including 1 045 boys (53.02%) and 926 girls (46.98%); 525 were only child in the family (26.64%). Among fathers, 1 531 had an education level of junior high school or below (77.68%), with the majority engaged in production and manufacturing occupations (703 individuals, 35.67%). For mothers, 1 653 had an education level of junior high school or below (83.87%), primarily working in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery production and support roles (812 individuals, 41.20%). A total of 293 adolescents exhibited depression symptoms (14.86%). The results of the multifactor logistic regression analysis indicated that, after controlling for variables such as gender, age, smoking, drinking, average daily sleep duration, and parental education level, compared to the unemployed reference group, fathers in professional and technical occupations (OR=0.251, 95%CI: 0.071-0.889) and mothers in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery production and support roles(OR=0.626, 95%CI: 0.409-0.959) were statistically associated with lower risks of adolescent depression symptoms.

Adolescents whose fathers are engaged in professional and technical work or whose mothers work in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery production exhibit a lower risk of developing depression symptoms.