The role of parental and peer support linking youth adversity and adolescent mental health: a moderated mediation study at the intersection of gender, socioeconomic background, and ethnicity

Background Disadvantaged and minoritised young people experience the highest rates of youth adversity and mental health problems. While interpersonal support from parents and peers may partly buffer the harmful effects of adversity, it remains unclear whether these protective effects operate equally across socially defined characteristics (such as gender, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity) and their intersections – reflecting overlapping social and structural systems of inequality. Methods Self-reported data from 5,662 adolescents aged 11-13-years in London, UK, were analysed from the Determinants of Adolescent Social well-being and Health (DASH) study. Structural equation modelling was used to estimate the indirect effects of youth adversity on combined symptoms of depression and anxiety via specific aspects of parental and peer support. Analyses were conducted in a multiple-group framework across 16 intersectional profiles defined by gender, socioeconomic background, and ethnicity. Moderation effects associated with these background characteristics and their intersections were estimated. Results Youth adversity had a detrimental direct effect on combined depression and anxiety symptoms across all intersectional profiles ( B  = 0.15–0.49, p = <  .01). No significant moderation of this effect was detected based on the intersections of gender, socioeconomic background, and ethnicity, although a marginally stronger effect was observed among socioeconomically advantaged compared to disadvantaged individuals. Parental and peer support did not broadly mediate the effect of youth adversity on combined depression and anxiety symptoms across intersectional profiles. However, a weak indirect effect via reduced parental nurturing was observed among socioeconomically disadvantaged South Asian females (θ _std  = 0.23, 95% CI < 0.01, 0.48). No moderation of the indirect effects via parental or peer support was detected. Conclusions The damaging effects of youth adversity on adolescent mental health pervade across intersectional positions. While a statistical mediation effect was observed in one profile, this finding requires replication using an enhanced modelling framework. The broader absence of mediation invites critical consideration of how interpersonal support is conceptualised and measured in the context of intersectional lived experience. Methodological refinement is needed to better understand the mechanisms linking youth adversity to mental health, and to inform interventions and prevention efforts that address both the structural conditions and the proximal processes influencing adolescent mental health.