Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: mother-infant interaction at three-and-a-half and six months of age.

Mother-infant interaction during feeding and in an unstructured play situation was studied in the home at 3.5 and 6 months of age in index mother-infant pairs in which the mother had a history of nonorganic psychosis (n = 48 and 52 at 3.5 and 6 months, respectively) and in demographically similar control pairs (n = 80 and 79). Interaction was significantly more negative in index than control cases at both ages, index cases showing decreased maternal and infant social contact and reduced maternal sensitivity to the infant's needs. Schizophrenic and Cycloid groups evidenced more negative interaction characteristics than did their matched controls, while the Affective group was not generally more negative than its controls.