Parental education level and adolescent depression: A multi-country meta-analysis

Adolescent depression, as a common problem, has always been the focus of attention and research. However, no consistent conclusion has been drawn on its relationship with parental education level. Therefore, this study used meta-analysis and dose-response analysis techniques to explore the overall relationship between the two, and further explore the moderating factors affecting the relationship between the two through subgroup analysis and meta-regression analysis. After a literature search and screening, a total of 22 literatures were included, including 634,821 adolescents aged 9–25, distributed in 10 countries. The results showed that: (1) Overall parental education level was negatively correlated with adolescent depressive symptoms (RR = 0.88. p < 0.001), and there was a dose-response relationship between the two. (2) Geographical location (p = 0.002 < 0.05) and national economic development (p = 0.03 < 0.05) significantly moderated and affected the association between parental education level and adolescent depression, thus presenting a global inconsistency. The results of this study provide a more accurate conclusion on the relationship between parental education and adolescent depression to some extent, highlight the importance and necessity of considering family, economic and cultural factors when studying and solving adolescent depression problems, and guide us to pay more attention to the cross-regional and cross-cultural differences in adolescent depression problems.