ALTERED MATERNAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE AS HEALTH RISK FACTOR IN POOR URBAN INFANTS

To test the hypothesis that the increased health risk of children sele cted by a previously calculated and validated predictive model is asso ciated with some maternal psychological characteristics, the universe of 107 mothers of children selected by this model was evaluated by mea ns of Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30), Raven (Ra) and Rorschach (Re) tests; 37.4% were cases according to GHQ-30, 80.9% wer e < 50th percentile in Ra and 85% exhibited deviant responses in Ro te sts. Children whose mother's IQ was < 50th percentile suffered more ep isodes of total morbidity (Tm) and of diarrhoea (p = 0.0364). Children whose mothers were normal in Ro had less Tm (p = 0.0364) and fewer re spiratory symptoms (p = 0.0300) and tended to have less diarrhoea (p = 0.0690). In poor urban families in Santiago psychological maternal ch aracteristics are associated with an increased health risk for the inf ants. Supportive programmes should consider both biological characteri stics of the infants and maternal psychological needs.