Mothers who scored zero on the Beck Depression Inventory (N = 25) were compared to “depressed” mothers (high scores on the Beck) (N = 39) and nondepressed mothers (N = 98) during face-to-face interactions with their 5-month-old infants. The interaction videotapes were rated on the Interaction Rating Scales and were coded second-by-second for attentive/affective behavior states. The zero Beck mothers and their infants received lower ratings and were in less positive behavior states (alone or together) than the high scoring Beck “depressed” mother/infant dyads and even more frequently than the nondepressed mother/infant dyads. The lower activity levels, lesser expressivity, and less frequent vocalizing were suggestive of “depressed” behavior in both the mothers and their infants. In addition, the infants of the zero Beck mothers had lower vagal tone and lower growth percentiles (weight, length, and head circumference) than the infants of nondepressed mothers, although they did not differ from the infants of depressed mothers on these measures. These data suggest that mothers who report no depressive symptoms may present as much, if not greater risk, for their infants than mothers who do report depressive symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory.

No abstract

Face-to-face interactions of 56 sixth-grade friend and acquaintance pairs were videotaped, heart rate was recorded, and saliva cortisol was sampled. During interactions the friend dyads were more attentive, affectively positive, vocal, active, involved, relaxed, and playful, and their cortisol values suggested lower stress levels. They also spent more time together in mutually interested and animated states, and they assigned higher ratings to liking their interactions and interaction partners. Greater coherence in the friend pairs' behavior states and in the acquaintance pairs' vocal activity suggested that the friend pairs more often shared the same behavior state (e.g., playful), and the acquaintance pairs more often paid attention to each others' turn-taking signals, so that when one person talked, the other was silent.