This study examines the sequential mediating effects of academic stress and grit on the relationship between perceived parental achievement pressure and depression among adolescents. Data from 1,289 second-year middle school students in the 15th wave of the Panel Study on Korean Children were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results are as follows. First, perceived parental achievement pressure had a significant positive effect on academic stress. Second, academic stress had a significant negative effect on grit and a significant positive effect on depression. Third, grit had a significant negative effect on depression. Fourth, the direct effect of perceived parental achievement pressure on depression was not significant, whereas the indirect effect through academic stress and the sequential indirect effect through academic stress and grit were significant. These findings suggest that perceived parental achievement pressure is associated with adolescent depression through increased academic stress and reduced grit, highlighting the need to reduce academic stress and support grit in interventions for adolescent depression.