Characteristics Within poverty level ≥ 200 Non-Latino White Latino Within poverty level <200 Non-Latino White Latino Within high support at home Non-Latino White Latino Within low support at home Non-Latino White Latino Within high support at school Non-Latino White Latino Within low support at school Non-Latino White Latino Within: poverty level≥ 200, high support at school and at home Non-Latino White Latino OR (95% CI)* 1 2.10 (1.38–3.19) 1 0.96 (0.62–1.50) 1 2.75 (1.75–4.32) 1 1.28 (0.90–1.82) 1 3.29 (1.86–5.82) 1 1.41 (1.02–1.93) 1 4.62 (1.63–13.10) BMC Public Health 2007, 7:21 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/7/21 Table 5: Ethnic differences in depressive symptoms in different strata of covariates *all models include: age, gender, poverty level, ethnic background, support at home and support at school (where appropriate) analyses by Patten and colleagues [8] revealed that house- hold type has to be considered in conjunction with paren- tal support, as even in a two parent household risk of depression was increased if the adolescents perceived that they were not able to talk to either parent about their problems. Clearly, the complex relationship between depression, household type and parental support and the mechanisms of how these variables may relate to depres- sion need to be further studied. Risk factors of depressive symptoms that were unique to females in our sample were Latino ethnicity, age 14–15 and low household income. Latino females emerged as risk group for depressive symptoms in both a gender strat- ified analysis and in an analysis limited to the Latino sub- sample. Interestingly, the age group 14–15 years had the highest risk of depressive symptoms among females, but the lowest risk for males. Thus, in the combined analysis, the risk estimates were averaged and age did not emerge as a risk factor for depressive symptoms. Our findings sug- gest that boys and girls show different profiles of corre- lates and probable risk factors for depressive symptoms. Others have suggested that risk factors for depression such as stress and social support may have a greater impact among girls than among boys [9]. Future studies need to further evaluate gender differences in rates and risk factors of depression as gender specific intervention programs may be needed. In our sample, low support at school was the strongest risk factor for depressive symptoms for both males and females. This variable captured respondents' perceptions of the availability of a teacher or other adult at school who "noticed when they were not there, listened to them when Table 6: Gender differences in predictors of depressive symptoms: Separate analysis for males and females Characteristics Latino versus Non-Latino White Age: 12–13 vs. 16–17 Age: 14–15 vs. 16–17 <200% poverty level vs. > 200% Household type: One parent vs. both Support at home: low vs. high Support at school: low vs. high * adjusted for all other variables in the tables Male (N = 2048) OR (95% CI)* 1.27 (0.74–2.19) 1.00 (0.58–1.71) 0.56 (0.31–1.02) 1.12 (0.64–1.94) 2.36 (1.46–3.81) 1.73 (1.01–2.98) 3.21 (1.80–5.72) p-value 0.39 0.99 0.06 0.70 <0.001 0.05 <0.001 Female (N = 1962) OR (95% CI)* 1.60 (1.08–2.39) 0.92 (0.59–1.44) 1.51 (0.99–2.29) 1.54 (1.03–2.30) 1.16 (0.79–1.70) 0.97 (0.68–1.39) 3.78 (2.51–5.71) p-value 0.02 0.71 0.06 0.04 0.45 0.86 <0.001 Page 7 of 9 (page number not for citation purposes)