AFFECTIVE INTERACTIONS OF DEPRESSED AND NONDEPRESSED MOTHERS AND THEIR CHILDREN

The expressed affect of clinically depressed and nondepressed mothers as measured by the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia: Lifetime Version (SADS-L) and their children (1 1/2 to 3 1/2 years) w as observed in seminatural situations. The objectives were to investig ate how maternal depression enters into affective interactions between mother and child and how the affect patterns of mother and child are related. Forty-nine unipolar and 24 bipolar depressed mothers and 45 n ondepressed mothers were observed on 2 days, 2 weeks apart, for a tota l of 5 h. Each minute was coded for the predominant affect of mother a nd child. Affects relevant to depression (anxious-sad, irritable-angry , downcast, pleasant, tender-affectionate) were coded. Depressed mothe rs expressed significantly more negative affect than did control mothe rs. Mothers' expressed affect and their self-reports of affect on days of observation were unrelated. Mother's and child's affects, measured on different days, were significantly correlated. Unipolar mothers an d mothers severely depressed spent significantly more time in prolonge d bouts of negative affect. There was significant synchrony between th eir bouts and the negative bouts of their daughters. Gender of child w as related to mother's and child's affect, and to relations between mo ther's and child's affect.