HELPLESSNESS IN CHILDREN OF DEPRESSED AND NONDEPRESSED MOTHERS

Helpless behaviors in 5- to 7-year-old children of depressed and nonde pressed mothers were assessed through direct observation, interviews, and teacher ratings. The affective tone the mothers set in a joint puz zle task and their tendency to encourage mastery or become intrusive w hen their children became frustrated at the task were also assessed. A lthough depressed mothers set a more negative affective tone than nond epressed mothers during solvable puzzles, there were few significant d ifferences between the 2 groups of mothers and children. Still, mother s who were more negative and hostile and less able to encourage master y in their children had children who exhibited more helpless behaviors in the puzzle task, who were less likely to endorse active problem-so lving approaches to frustrating situations, and whose teachers rated t he children as less competent and more prone to helpless behaviors.