Behavioral correlates of maternal depressive symptomatology in conduct-disorder children: II. Systemic effects involving fathers and siblings.

This study tested a systemic hypothesis of the relation between maternal depressive symptomatology and the behavior of conduct-disordered children (n = 47) toward their mothers, fathers, and siblings. Maternal symptomatology interacted with the children's behavior toward all family members. Children whose mothers were distressed tended to be more compliant and less aversive toward them than toward their fathers, and the opposite applied to children whose mothers were not distressed. Comparable results were obtained in comparisons of child interactions with mothers and siblings, although in the latter case the children's behaviors differed in absolute magnitude as a function of their interaction partner.