Depression tends to run in families. To date, research has generally focused on the independent effect of maternal depression on non-optimal child outcomes, rarely examining the more complex, dynamic, and interrelated family factors that are likely to exacerbate or buffer the impact of maternal psychopathology on child development.
The specific aim of the current study is to examine the extent to which transmission of family relationship patterns across generations potentiates or buffers risk outcomes in children born to depressed mothers. This study will concurrently examine the quality of the marital relationship (i.e., marital attachment) and the quality of parents' family -of-origin attachment relationships (i.e., adult attachment) to determine how patterns of family relationships relate to developmental outcomes in children at risk. A longitudinal study is proposed in which standard narrative and observational assessments will be conducted prenatally, and when the child is 4- and 14-months of age. This study will broaden existing knowledge by: 1) examining relationship patterns in depressed and non-depressed families so that the effects of maternal psychopathology may be understood in its larger context; 2) considering the marital relationship as a current attachment relationship which may serve an important restorative role in promoting the development of secure infant- parent attachment relationships; and 3) assessing how the interplay among levels of family relationships may potentiate or buffer the effects of maternal psychopathology on child developmental outcomes.
