Affective interactions of depressed and nondepressed mothers and their children

Abstract

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) was observed in seminatural situations. The objectives were to investigate 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 nondepressed mothers were observed on 2 days, 2 weeks apart, for a total of 5 h. Each minute was coded for the predominant affect of mother and child. Affects relevant to depression (anxious--said, irritable--angry, downcast, pleasant, tender-affectionate) were coded. Depressed mothers expressed significantly more negative affect than did control mothers. 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 and mothers severely depressed spent significantly more time in prolonged bouts of negative affect. There was significant synchrony between their bouts and the negative bouts of their daughters. Gender of child was related to mother's and child's affect, and to relations between mother's and child's affect.

Preliminary Examination of Sex Differences in Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatients: The Role of Anxious Symptoms and Generalized Negative Affect

“…Anxiety may be a preexisting risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms in adolescent girls. For example, Reinherz et al (1993) found that early onset (by age 9) of anxious symptoms in girls was significantly related to the development of depression in adolescence. Anxiety was not found tobe asignificant childhoodrisk factor formale adolescent depression.…”

“…If the sex difference in depression is found to be the result of higher rates of nonspecific symptoms associated with negative affect or anxiety, rather than the more specific symptomoflow positiveaffect,efforts toinvestigate the factors that influence higher rates of depression in women may be redefined and focused. As one example, the relation of sex-related risk factors for depression (e.g., in adolescents, ruminative coping, low instrumentality; Nolen-Hoeksema & Girgus, 1994) may be re-examined as risk factors for general emotional distress, anxiety, or both, which interestingly, may themselves act as risk factors for depression (e.g., Reinherz et al, 1993, found that childhood anxiety predicted adolescent depression).…”

The Effectiveness of Parent–Child Interaction Therapy with Depressive Mothers: The Changing Relationship as the Agent of Individual Change

“…They are reported as being more oppositional and defiant, less cooperative, and more aggressive than children of non-depressed mothers [2,6,7]. In interactions with their children, depressed mothers have shown more negative affect, hostile, and coercive behavior than non-depressed mothers [8], were more disengaged [9], spoke with negative or flat affect [5], and were insensitive to their children's cues [10]. Maternal depression has been found to increase risks of child physical abuse and neglect [11,12] and psychological aggression [13].…”

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Depression by Partner Status and the Presence of Children in the Household

“…The children of depressed mothers are at elevated risk for a range of psychiatric disorders, behavioral problems, and developmental delays (Lieb, Isensee, Hofler, Pfister & Wittchen, 2002;Downey & Coyne, 1990;Field, 1992;Radke-Yarrow, Nottelman, Belmont, & Welsh, 1993;Sohr-Preston & Scaramella, 2006). In January 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics (Shonkoff, Garner, Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child And Family Health; Committee On Early Childhood, Adoption, and Dependent Care; & Section on Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 2012) issued a comprehensive policy statement calling for increased identification and treatment of maternal depression in order to improve child outcomes.…”