The objective is to investigate the mother-child relationships from three perspectives: to identify the mutual (mother and child) contributions to the relationship, to develop alternative frameworks for conceptualizing the relationship, and to examine the developmental, stabilities and changes in the relationship over a 8-year period. Comparisons of families with and without parental psychopathology are a second objective. Twenty families with affectively ill parents and 20 families with well parents are studied. There are two children (average age 2 1/2 and 6 years) in each family. Families are assessed twice, three years apart. Behavioral observations over systematically sampled situations and at multiple times are obtained. Coding is at a detailed level and at level involving clinical interpretation.
