Dyadic Interactions in Depressed and Non-Depressed Mothers and Their Infants
Dyadic Interactions in Depressed and Non-Depressed Mothers and Their Infants
This study will examine 1) differences among mothers behaviors and how these behaviors
 influence their infants reactions, and 2) how mother-child interactions relate to children s
 temperament, and cognitive (thought processing) abilities, and other areas of development.

 Depressed and non-depressed English-speaking mothers between 20 and 45 years of age, with an
 infant 4 months or younger, may be eligible for this study. Candidates will be screened with
 a mailed survey regarding their moods and feelings. Participants will undergo the following
 procedures:

 -  Psychiatric Interview: Subjects will participate in a 30-90 minute interview consisting
 of a series of standardized questions about the their behaviors and feelings.
 Participants whose interviews suggest a condition that may impact their mental health
 will be referred to the study clinician for follow-up to confirm or clarify the
 preliminary findings. Continued participation in the study will be determined following
 this.

 -  Home Visit: A study investigator will visit the home for 1 hour to film the mother and
 baby during the mother s typical daily activities. This visit will take place when the
 baby is about 5 months old. At the end of the visit, the mother will be given a variety
 of surveys to fill out at home and return at the next visit (see Lab Visit below). The
 survey questions deal with the mother s relationship with her partner, support from
 people in her life, typical behaviors of her infant, and how often she feels certain
 emotions. A packet of surveys will also be left for the participant s partner to
 complete and mail back to the investigator. The partner may or may not be the child s
 biological father and may or may not choose to participate in the study.

 -  Lab Visit: Within 1 week of the home visit, the mother and child will come to the NICHD
 clinic for about 2 hours. During this time, the mother will return the previous surveys
 and fill out another one regarding her current mood. She will then interact with her
 child, who will be seated in front of her. The 20-minute session will be videotaped.
 (There will be breaks during the session.) The mother will be instructed about how she
 should act (happy or sad). She and her baby will then participate in a variety of filmed
 situations that will induce certain emotions in the baby, such as happiness, fear,
 activity, frustration, and interest, in order to learn how different children react to
 different situations.

 Participants will be contacted to continue the study when their babies are 12 months old and
 again when the children are 24 months old. The above procedures will be repeated and some new
 measures will be added for toddlers that involve activities investigating aspects of early
 language and social reasoning..
Maternal depression is a concurrent and longitudinal risk factor for children s development.
 Maternal depression exerts direct effects and indirect effects through proximal processes of
 mother-child dyadic interactions. Both depressed mothers and their infants are inattentive,
 unresponsive, affectively flat, and disengaged during naturalistic interactions, and their
 dyadic interactions have been described as less synchronous. Our primary objective is to
 investigate differences between depressed and non-depressed dyads in maternal behaviors,
 child behaviors, and dyadic behaviors in terms of latency, synchrony, and contingency. In the
 present study, we propose to examine the determinants and effects of dyadic interactions of
 depressed and nondepressed mothers with their infants across several domains of child
 development. We plan to replicate and extend previous work by observing the dyads in
 naturalistic as well as experimental face-to-face settings at 5, 12, and 24 months.

 Groups of depressed and nondepressed mothers will be selected on the basis of self-reports of
 depressive symptoms and by clinical diagnostic interviews. These assessments will be repeated
 at 12 and 24 months to assess the course of maternal depression. The study consists of a home
 visit, a lab visit, and administration of questionnaires to mothers and their spouses or
 partners at three time points. All maternal and child behaviors during dyadic interactions
 will be coded as continuous streams of data for analysis of reciprocal influences within the
 dyad. By coding a range of behaviors such as facial affect, vocalization, physical activity,
 and visual attention of the mother and infant, we hope to capture variations in mother-child
 interactions, both between and within depressed and nondepressed dyads. Differences in styles
 of dyadic interactions have been shown to have important consequences on subsequent child
 development in several domains. In addition, experimental simulations will consist of
 instructed 'depressed' and 'happy' simulations of mothers with their infants. Specific
 simulations allow observation of changes in infant behaviors from the spontaneous episodes
 and comparison between depressed and nondepressed dyads.

 Understanding the context of child development, both normative and atypical, is important as
 means of elucidating the processes by which maternal depression operates as a risk factor for
 children s cognitive and socioemotional development. Several socio-demographic and
 psychosocial factors will be assessed by maternal and paternal self-reports to examine which
 factors exacerbate or buffer the effects of maternal depression. In addition to modifying the
 observations of maternal and child behaviors to be age-appropriate, new measures will be
 introduced at 12 and 24 months to capture child s functioning in multiple areas.
-  INCLUSION CRITERIA:

 Mothers and infants must meet certain criteria to be included in the study. Selection
 criteria are: maternal age between 20 and 45 years, ability to read and write in English,
 normal pregnancy/delivery status without birth complications, term birth (+/- 14 days from
 due date), and singleton status of the child. Approximately equal numbers of male and
 female infants will be recruited, and to the extent possible, the two groups of depressed
 and nondepressed mothers will be matched on ethnic composition. Participants will be seen
 at 5, 12, and 24 months.

 EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

 None