Objective To investigate the detection rate of depression symptom in clinical research associate in China， and to analyze the job stress source， so as to discuss the relationship between the depression status and job stress source. Methods An online questionnaire survey was conducted on clinical research associate for general information and the source of depression and job stress， adopting Self-rating Depression Scale（ SDS） and Stress Diagnostic Survey via WenJuanXing software. Results A total of 533 clinical research associates were surveyed and the depression detection rate was 57.22%. The results of single factor analysis showed that gender， number of research sites and the 6 factors of job stress source have influence on the depression symptom detection rate of clinical research associate. The results of multiple factors analysis showed that role ambiguity， quantitative overloaded， qualitative role overloaded and attention to career development were at moderate and high stress levels， which were the high risk factors of mild and moderate depression symptoms in clinical research associate. Conclusions Currently， the depression detection rate is relatively high in clinical research associate in China and the general trend is not optimistic. It is suggested to enhance the reasonable assessment of clinical research associate's psychological health level.