Are maternal child-related behavioral deficits characteristic of women with a history of depression, or are difficulties present only when mothers are experiencing an acute episode of depression? Are there certain patterns of aberrant child-related behaviors that wax and wane with depressive episodes, and others that reflect more or less enduring behavioral characteristics of depressed mothers? In this longitudinal study it is possible to compare maternal characteristics of two groups of mothers with a history of affective disorder: those who are in an episode and those who are between episodes of depression at the time of their participation in the study when they are observed with their children. Prelim- inary analyses indicate that depressed mothers who are currently in episode are not more likely than those who are not in episode to report behavior problems in their children. Both groups, however, report significantly more child behavior problems than mothers without a history of depression. Nor do depressed mothers who are in a self-reported depressed mood report higher levels of child behavior problems than depressed mothers who report non- depressed moods. These data argue against the likelihood that mothers' depressed moods or depressive states (episodes) lead to systematically distorted reports of problems in their children. Depressed mothers experiencing an episode of depression, however, do report more distress in their marriages than depressed mothers who are not experiencing an episode of depression. Mothers' behaviors with and around their children while playing with a peer (an experimental laboratory situation) were compared. Depressed women in an episode of depression did not differ significantly from depressed women who were not in episode with respect to appropriateness of their interactions with their children.
