ObjectiveTo explore the efficacy of structured psychoeducational group therapy grounded in Yalom’s interpersonal therapeutic principles on parental anxiety, depressive symptoms, and family cohesion and adaptability among parents of adolescents with depression, and to provide clinical evidence for parent-focused family psychological support for adolescents with depression.MethodsA total of 90 parents (45 couples) of adolescents aged 12–18 with depression were recruited from the outpatient department of a psychiatric hospital in Beijing between June 2023 and June 2024. Both parents of each adolescent were required to participate. Randomization was performed at the family level, with participants randomly assigned to an intervention group or a control group in a 1:1 ratio using sealed envelope allocation concealment. The intervention group received 12 weekly 90-minute sessions of structured psychoeducational group therapy grounded in Yalom’s interpersonal therapeutic principles, with standardized themed modules including peer support, emotional catharsis, interpersonal reflection, cognitive restructuring, and family communication skill training; the control group received no systematic psychological intervention. All analyses were conducted on a completer basis. Assessments were conducted at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 3-month follow-up using the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scale (FACES II). A 2×3 mixed-design repeated-measures ANOVA was applied to compare intervention effects, with partial eta-squared (η²) reported as the measure of effect size.ResultsSignificant main effects of time were observed for anxiety, family cohesion, and family adaptability (all P < 0.05), while the main effect of time for depression was not significant (P>0.05). A significant group-by-time interaction was found for family cohesion (F = 4.487, P = 0.018, η² = 0.049), interactions for family adaptability, anxiety and depression were not significant (all P>0.05). The intervention group showed sustained reductions in anxiety and gradual improvements in family cohesion and adaptability over the study period. No statistically significant changes in any outcome were observed in the control group across time points.ConclusionThis study provides preliminary evidence for the feasibility and potential benefits of short-term structured psychoeducational group therapy grounded in Yalom’s interpersonal therapeutic principles among parents of adolescents with depression, particularly for improving family cohesion. Intervention-specific effects on parental anxiety, depression, and family adaptability were not statistically significant, and further research with active control conditions and larger samples is warranted.