The factors analyzed were parental perceptions of family burden due to adolescents' depression, adolescent-parent communication, parents' depressive symptomatology, and comorbid substance-use disorders. The study used a two-stage screening process to recruit 44 depressed adolescents and their parents from pediatric clinics between 1997 and 1999. Data were obtained on the variables through structured diagnostic interviews with adolescents and the administration of the Child and Adolescent Services Assessment, the Child and Adolescent Functional Assessment Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory (for parents), and the Communication subscale of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. When the history of service-use was controlled, the following two predictors were most strongly related to parental depression-identification: parental perceptions of family burden and the presence of a substance-use disorder in the adolescent. The data supported the role of parental identification of depression in their adolescent children as a mediator between the parent/adolescent characteristics and reports of mental health service-use. The study concluded that the enhancement of parents' abilities to identify and understand signs of depression may facilitate service-use among depressed adolescents. 5 tables and 32 references