The specific aims of this study are: (1) to provide and compare detailed descriptions of the affective behavior and face-to-face interactions of mothers with high levels of depressive symptomatology and mothers with low levels of depressive symptomatology; and (2) to describe and compare the influence of the behavior and effect of the two groups of mothers on their infants' behavior, affect, and developmental outcome during the first year of life. The primary hypothesis to be evaluated is that the behavioral and affective style of mothers with high levels of depressive symptomatology compromises their infants' affective and social development. Fifty mothers with high levels of depressive symptomatology and their infants will be compared to fifty mothers with low levels of depressive symptomatology and their infants. The mothers depressive symptomatology will be assessed by a self-report symptom scale. Aside from the proband mothers' depressive symptomatology, all mothers and their infants will meet a set of low-risk criteria. Face-to-face observations of normal play with the mother and a stranger and disruptive (still-face) interactions with the mother will be carried out in the laboratory at 3 and 6 months of infant age. Additionally, the infants' interactions with an unfamiliar adult and the infant's security of attachment will be assessed in the Ainsworth Strange Situation when the infants are 12 months old.
