Because of both methodological and theoretical limitations, previous studies of offspring of parents with affective disorders have rarely tested psychosocial models of depressive vulnerability. The current research is part of a longitudinal investigation of psychosocial risk for disorder in 8-to 16-yearold children of unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal mothers. High rates of psychopathology, including depression, were found in children in the high-risk groups. The current study evaluated the separate contributions of maternal depressive history, current self-reported depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory scores), and chronic strains to observe relations between these ordinarily confounded variables and children's psychiatric diagnoses and current functioning. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that chronic strain added significantly to the prediction of several outcomes and that current depressive symptoms were more predictive of children's scores than was maternal history of affective disorder. Both chronic strains and current Beck Depression Inventory scores are viewed as concomitants of affective disorder but are not specific to it. Therefore studies of the risk to children conferred by parental disorder cannot assume that diagnostic status as such is a single risk factor and must attend to the effects of ongoing stressors and nonspecific symptoms.One path in the search for origins of and preventive interventions for depression leads to the study of vulnerabilities that children at high risk acquire during childhood. Although evidence is mounting that children of parents with affective disorders are at risk for increased psychopathology, especially depression (e.g., reviews by Beardslee, Bemporad, Keller, & Klerman, 1983;Morrison, 1983;Orvaschel, Weissman, & Kidd, 1980), the magnitude and mechanisms of such risk remain unclear. In particular, few studies of the associations between parental diagnostic status and child outcome have examined two variables that may be associated with parental diagnosis but may also exist independent of parental psychiatric status: ongoing family stress and parental depressive symptoms. Although these variables overlap with parental psychiatric conditions, they may contribute separately or differentially to children's outcomes.Family stresses, including chronic strains, negative life This research was funded in part by a Veterans Administration research grant to

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Two hypotheses were tested: (a) One mechanism contributing to the high rate of disorder in children of women with affective disorders is elevated exposure to stressful events and conditions and (b) the children of depressed women, particularly women with unipolar depression, contribute to event occurrence because of increased interpersonal conflict. Life stress interview assessments were made at 6-month intervals for 3 years on 53 children of unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal women. Both hypotheses were confirmed. Transactional models of risk and further studies of the interpersonal functioning of children at risk for depression are needed.

Cognitive, developmental, and psychodynamic theories all hypothesize that negative self-concepts acquired in childhood may induce vulnerability to depression. Children at risk because of maternal major affective disorder, compared with children of medically ill and normal mothers, were examined for evidence of negative cognitions about themselves, and were found to have more negative self-concept, less positive self-schemas, and more negative attributional style. It was further predicted that negative cognitions about the self would be related to maternal depression and chronic stress, and to the quality of perceived and actual interactions with the mother. In general, the predicted associations were obtained, supporting speculations about how maternal affective disorder is associated with stress and with relatively negative and unsupportive relationships with children that in turn diminish children's self-regard.

Temporal associations of diagnoses in mothers and children were examined in a 3-year longitudinal study of unipolar, bipolar, and comparison women and their 8- to 16-year-old offspring. There was a significant temporal association between mother and child diagnoses, especially in unipolar families, and most children who experienced a major depressive episode did so in close proximity to maternal depression. Regression analyses indicated that children's own stressful life events, maternal disorder, and the interaction of the two significantly predicted children's changes in depression. Children exposed to high stress but with nonsymptomatic mothers were significantly less depressed subsequent to stressors than those who also had symptomatic mothers. The results are discussed in terms of the reciprocal, interpersonal context of depression.