The study investigated the relation between different types of race-related stress and depressive symptoms within a sample of 146 urban African American adolescents. A mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis was employed to identify the roles that racial identity, which is the meaning and significance individuals place on their race, may play in the relation between different types of race-related stress and depressive symptoms. The study hypothesized that high racial centrality, high private regard, and low public regard will protect African American adolescents from the negative effects of individual race-related stress (Hypothesis 1), whereas high racial centrality, high private and high public regard will increase the negative effects of collective/institutional and cultural race-related stress on African American adolescents' mental health (Hypothesis2). Qualitative and quantitative data supported Hypothesis 1, with the exception of public regard. Quantitative data found that low public regard acted as a risk factor in the relation between individual race-related stress and depressive symptoms. With regards to Hypothesis 2, quantitative data revealed high public regard as a protective factor between cultural race-related stress and depressive symptoms. Qualitative and quantitative results regarding the role of racial centrality and private regard in the relation between collective/institutional- and cultural race-related stress were found to be equivocal. Implications for mental health professionals and directions for future research are discussed