Mother knows best? Mother and child report of behavioral difficulties of children of HIV-infected mothers

Children of HIV-infected mothers have more psychosocial adjustment difficul ties than no those of noninfected mothers. In this study, child psychosocia l adjustment in children of HIV-infected women is examined across the three stages of HIV-infected: asymptomatic, symptomatic and AIDS. Participants w ere 99 HIV-infected women and 148 noninfected women. Children were not iden tified as being HN infected. Mother and child reports of behavioral difficu lties are compared and competing hypotheses about mother report of child be havior difficulties are tested. Results indicate an ascending linear trend for child report of internalizing and externalizing difficulties from the n oninfected stage through increasingly severe stages of HN-infection. Accord ing to mother report, child externalizing and internalizing difficulties ar e nonlinear, as mothers report an increase through the infected symptomatic stage, then a decrease in the AIDS stage. Implications for assessment, pre vention and intervention in families with maternal HN infection are discuss ed.