The study also compared depressed adolescents with depressed parents with depressed adolescents without depressed parents on the following variables: level of psychosocial impairments, use of mental health services, suicidal ideation and attempt, and the clinical features of depression. Participants were 1,035 adolescents (421 males and 614 females), ages 12 through 17, randomly selected from 36 schools in the Province of Bremen, Germany. A total of 17.9 percent of the sample had at least one of the depressive disorders sometime in their lives, as measured by the computerized Munich version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CAPI). One section of the CAPI contains questions on parental psychopathology and family relationships. Perceived attachment to parents and peers was assessed with a short version of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Approximately half of the depressed adolescents had parents with depression, and between 11.4 and 23 percent had parents with other psychiatric syndromes. Adolescent depression was significantly related to having a depressed mother. Perceived level of attachment to parents was significantly weaker among depressed adolescents than among adolescents without any psychiatric disorders. Depressed adolescents with depressed parents also measured significantly higher on suicidal ideation, and they had more recurrent depressive episodes than depressed adolescents with parents who were not depressed. Overall, the findings suggest the importance of preventing and treating adolescent depression by focusing on the treatment of parental psychological disorders and improving the quality of parent/juvenile attachment. 1 table and 45 references