The speech behavior of 14 depressed and 18 nondepressed mothers during conversation with their 3-year-old children was examined in this study. It was found that depressed mothers vocalized less often and responded less quickly to the cessation of their children's speech than healthy mothers. In a mildly stressful situation, (awaiting a doctor's visit), the depressed mothers, but not the healthy mothers, significantly increased their level of speech productivity. Children of the depressed mothers spoke less than children of healthy women, particularly while sitting and eating lunch with their mothers. The observed differences in the mothers' behaviors were interpreted as an indication that the two groups of children are exposed to very different patterns of socialization. The offspring of depressed women are being taught both to keep social interaction to a minimum and to be overreactive to even mild stresses. The differences in the children's behavior may indicate that already these 3-year-old children have learned to keep their interactions with their mother to a minimum. This manner of adaptation may have negative effects on the child's continued social, emotional and cognitive development. In order to understand the developmental impact of the observed aberrant patterns of vocalic interaction between depressed mothers and their young children, two further studies are underway. First, the question of continuity of experience will be addressed by analyzing the conversation patterns of these women and children three years after the initial observation. Second, the question of alternate environmental supports for the children's development will be examined by assessing the conversation patterns of these young children and their older siblings. These observations are of the children both at the time of the original assessment of mother-child interaction and again at the time of the first follow-up assessment.
