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Abstract Developing competence within families where mothers had diagnosed psychopathology was examined in 123 14-month-old children. Categorical diagnosis, depression symptom severity, functional impairment, and multiple contextual risks were measured. These multiple risks included family functioning and composition, home environment, social status indicators, maternal illness, and adverse events. Overall social competence measured during two laboratory visits was best predicted by multiple contextual risks, less so by nonspecific illness variables, and not by categorical diagnosis. In contrast, attachment classification was related only to presence of major depression. These findings point to the importance of examining different aspects of maternal mental illness in social context, and that maternal illness is not universally associated with adverse child outcomes on all measures.
Seifer et al. (Sun,) studied this question.