MOTHERS PERCEPTIONS OF INFANTS LABELED DEPRESSED

Forty-four depressed and non-depressed mothers participated in a video taped interaction with their own infant and then rated the videotape u sing the Infant Stereotyping Scale and the Interaction Rating Scale. I n addition, one half of the mothers rated a videotape of an unfamiliar infant who was labelled psychologically 'depressed' and the other hal f rated a videotape of the same infant with no label given. Both the d epressed and non-depressed mothers rated the 'depressed' labelled infa nt more negatively than the non-labelled infant on the attributes of p hysical potency, cognitive competence, sociability and difficult behav iour. Physical appearance was the only rating that was not biased by t he 'depressed' label. Mothers' ratings of their own infants were more positive than their ratings of the non-labelled stimulus infant Depres sed mothers did not see their infants more negatively except on one ra ting. They rated the physical appearance of their own infant more nega tively than non-depressed mothers.