Sh. Goodman et al., MOTHERS EXPRESSED ATTITUDES - ASSOCIATIONS WITH MATERNAL DEPRESSION AND CHILDRENS SELF-ESTEEM AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 33(9), 1994, pp. 1265-1274
Objective: Mothers' expressed attitudes about their children were exam
ined to discern whether the associations between maternal depression a
nd children's psychopathology and self-esteem might be modified by the
mother's expression of critical attitudes. Method: Mother-child dyads
with mothers who had a history of at least one episode of unipolar ma
jor depression during the child's lifetime (N = 20) were compared to d
yads with well parents (N = 19). Children's ages ranged from 8 to 10 y
ears. Mothers' attitudes toward their children were derived from semis
tructured interviews. The affect expressed in each maternal statement
was coded as neutral, positive, descriptive negative, or affectively c
harged negative. Results: Affectively charged negative statements were
found to be associated with mothers with a history of depressive epis
odes. A tendency was noted for the highest rates of psychopathology to
be among children of depressed mothers who used affective-negative st
atements. Mothers' use of affectively charged negatives was found to m
odify the association between maternal depression and children's lower
global self-worth. Conclusions: Clinicians attuned to mothers' expres
sion of critical attitudes toward their children might detect children
at risk for lowered self-esteem and the development of psychopatholog
y.