Objectives: This study was to examine the independent and mediating effect of socioeconomic position and social relationship on depression. Methods: The study analyzed the data from the 2014 Korea Welfare Panel Study(n=9,172) using descriptive statistics, Kendall’s rank correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and the Sobel test. Results: Much of the connection between parental socioeconomic position and respondent depression was explained by respondent educational attainment in men but was not in women. A large portion of the association between educational attainment and depression was explained by type of household and satisfaction with social relationship among men. The effect of educational attainment on depression was fully mediated by type of household among women. The effect of type of household on depression was partly mediated by satisfaction with social relationship in men and women. Lastly, educational attainment, type of household and satisfaction with social relationship had an independent association with depression among men, but educational attainment was not statistically significant among women. Conclusions: Our study illuminated the importance of the independent and mediating effect of parental and respondent socioeconomic position and social relationship in the production of depression for South Korean adults.