Interaction behaviours of 88 adolescent mothers with depressive symptoms and their 3-month-old infants were videotaped and coded for different types of touch. The 'depressed' mothers were classified as intrusive, withdrawm or good by one observer and another observer coded rough tickling, poking, tuggingand pulling as negative touch behaviours and gentle stroking and rubbing as positive touch behaviours. The mothers with depressive symptoms were more likely to touch their infants in a negative way and more likely to be classified as intrusive.Keyzuords: depressed mothers, infants, touch, coded Most research on mother-infant face-to-face interaction behaviours has focused on facial and vocal behaviours. The mother's tactile stimulation has been M y ignored (Stack and Muir, 1990). Recent studies (Pelaez-Nogueras et al., 1996;Stack and Muir, 1990) highlight the importance of touch during early interactions. In the Stack and Muir (1990) study, infants whose mothers were 'stillface ' (Tronick et al., 1977) were less distressed by the still-face if the mother touched the infant during the still-face. Pelaez-Nogueras ef al. (1996) conducted the same procedure with mothers who had depressive symptoms. Their infants also were less distressed when the mothers touched them during the still-face procedure. Some have suggested that depressed mothers touch their infants less often or more negatively (Lyons-Ruth et al., 1986). However, systematic observations of depressed mothers' touch behaviours have not yet been conducted. METHODS SubjectsEghty-eight mother-infant dyads were recruited from a developmental follow-up clinic for a longitudinal study on m a t e d depression effects.The criteria were that they be less than 22 years of age and nondrug using as assessed by urine screens on the mothers and meconium on their infants at the neonatal stage. In this sample, 68% of the mothers were African-American, 33% Hispanic

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Interaction behaviours of 88 adolescent mothers with depressive symptoms and their 3-month-old infants were videotaped and coded for different types of touch. The 'depressed' mothers were classified as intrusive, withdrawm or good by one observer and another observer coded rough tickling, poking, tuggingand pulling as negative touch behaviours and gentle stroking and rubbing as positive touch behaviours. The mothers with depressive symptoms were more likely to touch their infants in a negative way and more likely to be classified as intrusive.