Mothers' expressed attitudes: associations with maternal depression and children's self-esteem and psychopathology.

OBJECTIVE

Mothers' expressed attitudes about their children were examined to discern whether the associations between maternal depression and 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 major depression during the child's lifetime (N = 20) were compared to dyads with well parents (N = 19). Children's ages ranged from 8 to 10 years. Mothers' attitudes toward their children were derived from semistructured interviews. The affect expressed in each maternal statement was coded as neutral, positive, descriptive negative, or affectively charged negative.

RESULTS

Affectively charged negative statements were found to be associated with mothers with a history of depressive episodes. A tendency was noted for the highest rates of psychopathology to be among children of depressed mothers who used affective-negative statements. Mothers' use of affectively charged negatives was found to modify the association between maternal depression and children's lower global self-worth.

CONCLUSIONS

Clinicians attuned to mothers' expression of critical attitudes toward their children might detect children at risk for lowered self-esteem and the development of psychopathology.