Schizophrenic and depressed mothers: Relational deficits in parenting.

Schizophrenic (n?=?53), depressed (n?=?25), and well women (n?=?23) were studied to determine the quality of their parenting and its affect on their 3-month to 5-year-old child's social and intellectual development. Most of the women were single parents; all were poor and Black. Parenting behavior was studied with observations in the lab and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment inventory. Children's behavior was measured with an IQ test and social competence observation. Quality of parenting was lowest in schizophrenic women, and more variable in depressed women. Certain parenting practices significantly predicted children's IQ scores and social behavior. The mother's parenting practices, and not her diagnostic status per se, accounted for much of children's intellectual and social competence, supporting an interactional model for transmission of psychopathology from mother to child. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Infants of postpartum depressed mothers: Temperament and cognitive status.

This study examined the association of postpartum depression with specific infant characteristics. Twenty-five diagnosed depressed and 25 nondepressed mothers and their 2-month-old infants participated in the study. The mothers completed measures of infant temperament and difficulty associated with infant care, and the infants were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Group comparisons indicated that, compared with the infants of the nondepressed mothers, the infants of the depressed women were less competent cognitively and expressed more negative emotions during the testing. The depressed mothers perceived their infants as more difficult to care for and more bothersome than did the nondepressed mothers, but did not attribute these difficulties to the temperament of their infants. These findings suggest that postpartum depression is associated with an identifiable pattern of infant behavior that may exacerbate depressed women's mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helplessness in children of depressed and nondepressed mothers.

Helpless behaviors in 5- to 7-year-old children of depressed and nondepressed mothers were assessed through direct observation, interviews, and teacher ratings. The affective tone the mothers set in a joint puzzle task and their tendency to encourage mastery or become intrusive when their children became frustrated at the task were also assessed. Although depressed mothers set a more negative affective tone than nondepressed mothers during solvable puzzles, there were few significant differences between the 2 groups of mothers and children. Still, mothers who were more negative and hostile and less able to encourage mastery in their children had children who exhibited more helpless behaviors in the puzzle task, who were less likely to endorse active problem-solving approaches to frustrating situations, and whose teachers rated the children as less competent and more prone to helpless behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental psychopathology in children of depressed mothers.

It is suggested that the tripartite model by R. D. Parke et al (1988) of the ways that parents influence their child's social development might be used to organize the study of abnormal development in children of depressed mothers. Parents influence their child through dyadic interaction, coaching and teaching practices, and managing their child's social environment. Disruption in each of these areas has been associated with parental psychopathology and has been implicated in the development of deviant child outcomes. The components of a theoretical model of developmental psychopathology are outlined, as well as theoretical and methodological problems that have yet to be resolved. Issues of concern include the heterogeneity of maternal diagnoses; distinguishing among genetic, parenting, and environmental effects; matching the level of behavioral analysis with the question being answered; the heterogeneity of child outcomes; age-related effects; bidirectional influences; and the role of paternal psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facial expressivity in infants of depressed mothers.

Examined facial expressions in 84 3-mo-old infants of mothers classified as depressed, nondepressed, or low scoring on the Beck Depression Inventory. Mother–infant dyads were videotaped during a 3-min face-to-face interaction, and the videotapes were coded by using the AFFEX facial expression coding system. Infants of both depressed and low-scoring mothers showed significantly more sadness and anger expressions and fewer interest expressions than infants of nondepressed mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children of depressed parents: An integrative review.

Reviews the literature on the adjustment of children of depressed parents, difficulties in parenting and parent–child interaction in these families, and contextual factors that may play a role in child adjustment and parental depression. First, issues arising from the recurrent, episodic, heterogeneous nature of depression are discussed. Second, studies on the adjustment of children with a depressed parent are summarized. Early studies that used depressed parents as controls for schizophrenic parents found equivalent risk for child disturbance. Subsequent studies using better-defined samples of depressed parents found that these children were at risk for a full range of adjustment problems and at specific risk for clinical depression. Third, the parenting difficulties of depressed parents are described and explanatory models of child adjustment problems are outlined. Fourth, important gaps in the literature are identified, and a consistent, if unintentional, "mother-bashing" quality in the existing literature is noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adjustment of children of depressed mothers: A 10-month follow-up.

There is considerable concern about the adjustment of children of depressed mothers. Earlier, the specificity of these difficulties to maternal depression was studied. Child adjustment difficulties were evident in 7- to 13-yr-old children of both depressed and nondepressed psychiatric patient mothers but not in the children of community mothers or nondepressed medical patient mothers (C. M. Lee and I. H. Gotlib, 1989). This report describes a 10-mo follow-up of 44 of these Ss. Despite the alleviation of maternal depressive symptomatology, children in the 2 psychiatric groups continued to manifest adjustment difficulties that were evident to both clinicians and mothers. These findings suggest that the adjustment difficulties found in the children of psychologically distressed mothers do not abate within the 1st yr after the mothers' recovery. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of guilt in children of depressed and well mothers.

Expressions of guilt were examined in 87 children, 5–9 years old, in a psychiatric interview and in a semiprojective procedure using vignettes to elicit children's narratives about interpersonal conflict and distress. Psychiatric assessments yielded similar patterns for children of depressed and well mothers, but semiprojective representations differed for the two groups. Children of well mothers showed prototypic expressions of adaptive guilt involving themes of responsibility and reparation, especially at the older ages. In contrast, themes of children of depressed mothers often were aberrant, distorted, and unresolved, indicating possible differences in the etiology and functions of their guilt. Guilt is considered in relation to other dimensions of affect, theories of moral development, patterns of adaptation and maladaptation, and processes of social transmission of emotional problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress exposure and stress generation in children of depressed mothers.

Two hypotheses were tested: (1) One mechanism contributing to the high rate of disorder in children of women with affective disorders is elevated exposure to stressful events and conditions, and (2) the children of depressed women, particularly women with unipolar depression, contribute to event occurrence because of increased interpersonal conflict. Life stress interview assessments were made at 6-mo intervals for 3 yrs on 53 children of unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal women. Both hypotheses were confirmed. Transactional models of risk and further studies of the interpersonal functioning of children at risk for depression are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal and infant temperamental predictors of attachment: A meta-analytic review.

Because of the possible implications of infant–mother attachment for later adjustment, we examined the extent to which it could be predicted by mother interactional variables and infant proneness to distress. The meta-analysis demonstrated that sensitive, responsive maternal interaction predicted the security of attachment in Ainsworth and Wittig's (1969) "strange situation." However, the strength of the relation was less than many narrative reviews have suggested. Proneness to distress, which is conceptualized as a temperamental variable, predicted resistance, which is a behavioral pattern in the strange situation that is thought to indicate one variety of insecure attachment. The strength of this association was low but was roughly comparable to that in the maternal domain. In both the maternal and infant domains, we attempted to predict the effect sizes by study characteristics such as method of assessment, sample composition, and age of subjects at the time of study. The pattern of results highlights several continuing methodological problems in the field and suggests that additional explanatory concepts are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive predictors of symptom return following depression treatment.

This study tested whether poor cognitive change during depression treatment predicted time to return of depressive symptoms. Depressed participants (N=121) completed assessments of dysfunctional attitudes and extreme thinking (i.e., number of totally agree and totally disagree responses) during hospitalization and again after 6 months of outpatient treatment. Participants then completed monthly depression assessments for 1 year. Survival analyses for time to symptom recurrence during follow-up were conducted among participants who reported 50% improvement in their depressive symptoms and were at least partially asymptomatic at the end of treatment (n=53). Poor change in dysfunctional attitudes and poor change in extreme thinking both predicted shorter time to return of depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Depressed adolescents of depressed and nondepressed mothers: Tests of an Interpersonal Impairment Hypothesis.

Two groups of depressed youngsters were compared. From an interpersonal perspective, it was hypothesized that depressed adolescents of depressed mothers would have significantly more interpersonal dysfunction than depressed youngsters of nondepressed mothers. In a large community sample of youth and their families, 65 depressed offspring of women with histories of a major depressive episode or dysthymia were compared with 45 depressed offspring of never-depressed women. As predicted, after controlling for current symptoms and family social status variables, depressed offspring of depressed mothers displayed significantly more negative interpersonal behaviors and cognitions compared with depressed offspring of nondepressed mothers, but they did not differ on academic performance. Implications concerning mechanisms, course, and consequences of different forms of adolescent depression are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychiatric history and symptom differences in black and white depressed patients.

Compared 159 black psychiatric patients with 555 white patients on a battery of social, personality, and psychiatric history variables, as well as presenting symptoms. In making these comparisons, race differences in age, social class status, and sex were controlled. Both black and white depressed patients were remarkably similar on presenting symptoms, especially the core symptoms of depression, when the groups were equated or controlled for age and social class differences. However, some differences did emerge on a number of hostility variables. There was a greater tendency toward negativism and the introjection of anger in blacks than in whites. In addition, depressed black males indicated that they were more likely than their white counterparts to strike back, either verbally or physically, when they felt their rights were being violated. There was also a very high incidence of suicide threats or attempts among the black males. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive reactivity and depressotypic information processing in children of depressed mothers.

Although high-risk research suggests that children of depressed mothers are at increased risk for psychological disorders, the mechanisms of this risk are not well understood. In the current study, the information processing of children of depressed mothers was compared with that of children whose mothers were not depressed. Half of each group received a priming induction designed to activate cognitive schemas prior to assessment. All children then completed a self-referent processing task that examined the recall of negative and positive information. Results indicate that when primed, at-risk children showed a less positive self-concept and more negative information processing than did the children in the other groups. These data may offer potential clues into the mechanisms of cognitive vulnerability in at-risk children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mediators of aggression among young adult offspring of depressed mothers.

The current article explores the connection between maternal depression and offspring aggression during the transition to adulthood, expanding the scope of prior research on this topic. Both family-level factors (including parent–child relationship quality and maternal romantic relationship quality) and youth factors (including depression history and social functioning in midadolescence) were tested as potential mediators in a longitudinal community sample of 710 youth at ages 15 and 20. The results suggest that maternal depression confers a risk for higher levels of aggressive behavior by offspring at age 20. Structural equation models suggested that the association between maternal depression and youth aggression is fully mediated by youth history of depression by midadolescence, even when accounting for the stability of aggression between ages 15 and 20. Parent–child relationship quality, youth social functioning, and maternal relationship quality were not unique mediators of this association. Limitations and implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent–child interaction among depressed fathers and mothers: Impact on child functioning.

Relatively little is known about whether children of depressed mothers versus fathers demonstrate similar difficulties and whether parent-child interaction moderates the effects of maternal depression, paternal depression, or both. In the current study, intact families with a depressed father (n?=?50), a depressed mother (n?=?41), and normal control families (n?=?50) completed questionnaires and participated in videotaped problem-solving interactions. Results indicate that paternal and maternal depression were similarly associated with child adjustment problems and more impaired parent-child communication. Interestingly, maternal versus paternal depression was associated with increased parent-child negativity, whereas father-child interactions were more influential than mother-child interactions in predicting child outcome after controlling for parental depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interactions Between Mothers and Children: Impacts of Maternal and Child Anxiety.

This study, an expansion of an earlier study of parenting behaviors of anxious mothers, examined the relationship of both mother and child anxiety disorders to mother behavior in parent-child interactions. Participants were 68 mother-child dyads with children ranging in age from 7 to 15 years. Mothers and children completed diagnostic evaluations and engaged in conversational tasks; behaviors were rated by coders who were blind to diagnosis. Mothers of anxious children, regardless of their own anxiety, were less warm (p     

Life events, symptom course, and treatment outcome in unipolar depressed women.

Although a large number of studies have addressed issues of etiology associated with stressful life events and diverse forms of disorder, little attention has been focused on the importance of such psychosocial parameters for the course and remission of symptoms once the disorder has begun. The authors review research on this latter topic, with special reference to the depressive disorders. A longitudinal study of 130 22–60 yr old unipolar depressive females receiving treatment was conducted. Results indicate that life events preceding entry into treatment significantly predicted certain forms of depressive symptomatology and of clinical outcome over a 6-mo follow-up period. In contrast, events occurring during the treatment and/or posttreatment period were not related to any of the depressive symptom outcome measures. Different subclassifications of events particularly may have relevance for the course and remission of symptoms in unipolar depressives under treatment. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

EEG activation in 1-month-old infants of depressed mothers

Previous research has documented differences in the pattern of EEG activation between 3-month-old infants of depressed mothers and infants of nondepressed mothers. In the present study, EEG was recorded in even younger 1-month-old infants of depressed and nondepressed mothers. The infants of depressed mothers exhibited greater relative right frontal EEG asymmetry (due to reduced left frontal activation), and this pattern at 1 month was significantly related to 3-month EEG asymmetry. Right frontal EEG asymmetry was also related to more frequent negative facial expressions (sad and pre-cry faces) during the Brazelton exam. Finally, the infants of depressed mothers showed more indeterminate sleep, were less active, and cried less than infants of nondepressed mothers.     

Prospective predictors of parenting satisfaction for fathers and mothers with young children.

Data from husbands and wives from 48 couples with young children (mean age?=?2.71 years) were used to assess whether each spouse's parenting satisfaction assessed 8 years after marriage (Year 8) was predicted by parents' personality characteristics, marital quality, and social support assessed at the beginning of the marriage (Year 1). With controls for all other variables, fathers' Year 8 parenting satisfaction was predicted by their own Year 1 instrumentality, whereas mothers' Year 8 parenting satisfaction was predicted by their own Year 1 expressiveness. These prospective relations were not moderated by child-related characteristics and persisted with controls for Year 8 marital satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)