新住民家庭常面對較一般家庭多的社會困境，例如偏低的社經地位及語言或文化隔閡、歧視，導致新住民青少年可能較一般青少年經驗更多困境，變成憂鬱症的高危險群。本研究旨在藉由實證資料來瞭解影響新住民青少年憂鬱之社經地位、家庭及社會心理因素。研究的依變項為新住民青少年憂鬱程度，自變項包括父親高於國中的教育程度、母親教養態度及新住民青少年的生活適應程度。研究採多階段階層抽樣，以台中市國中的新住民青少年為母群體，先以都市化程度進行行政區域的分層抽樣，繼之以學校為單位的集群抽樣，有效樣本數為259。受訪學生的女性比例為54.4%，平均年齡為13.71，家庭社經地位偏低。本研究以階層式迴歸分別檢驗不同性別的憂鬱預測因子。研究結果顯示新住民青少年憂鬱程度為正常範圍。控制其他變項，父親具高於國中的教育程度、較低的母親關懷態度及較低的生活適應與女生較高的憂鬱程度顯著相關，可解釋24.5%女生憂鬱程度的變異性。控制其他變項，父親教育程度在國中以下及較低的生活適應與男生較高的憂鬱程度顯著相關，可解釋24.4%男生憂鬱程度的變異性。最後本研究對未來研究方向及學生輔導實務提出建議。
New immigrant families often face more social difficulties associated with low socioeconomic status， language and cultural barriers， or social discrimination， compared with Taiwanese families. These difficulties might make the youths in new immigrant families more vulnerable to depression than their counterparts in Taiwanese families. This study is aimed at examining the impact of socioeconomic status， family， and social psychological factors upon depression of new immigrant youths. The dependent variable is the level of depression. The independent variables are father’s education level above junior high school， mother’s parenting style， and adolescent’s life adaptation. The method of multi-stage stratified sampling was used to draw a representative sample of new immigrant youths at junior high schools in Taichung city area. The first stage of sampling was based on the levels of area urbanization， followed by the second stage of sampling at school level. The analytic sample consisted of 259 students， with 54.4% being females and a mean age of 13.71. The students on average had low socioeconomic status. This study used hierarchical regression analysis to test the research model for both sexes. The results showed that on average， depression among the immigrant youths was at a normal level. For females， controlling for other factors， father’s education level above junior high school， lower level of mother’s caring parenting and lower level of adolescent’s life adaptation were significantly related to higher level of depression， explaining 24.5% of variance of depression. For males， controlling for other factors， father’s education level at or under junior high school and lower level of life adaptation were significantly associated with higher level of depression， explaining 24.4% of variance of depression. Finally， this study made some suggestions for further study and school counseling programs.
