Affective dimensions of normal and depressed mothers' and children's behavior are investigated. It was hypothesized that children's experiences in the family environment provided by depressed parents would diverge significantly from normal families. Based on continuous coding of the moods and emotions of mothers and children over 9 hours of interaction, the following significant group differences were found: Significantly more time was rated as negative in mood or in specific negative emotions, (sad, fearful, angry, or anxious) for depressed mothers and their 2- to 3-year-olds and 5-to-7-year-olds than for normal mother-child dyads. The quality rather than the frequency of affection differs in the normal and depressed groups. There is very high co-occurrence (matches by minute) of affective expression by mother and young child, particularly for depressed mothers and their daughters. Analyses are underway on three related aspects of the socialization and regulation of affect. In all of the studies, the source of data is project, involving observation of mothers' and children's moods and emotions in relation to a variety of situations.
