Psychopathology in mothers of children with failure to thrive

An association between maternal psychopathology and failure to thrive (FTT) has been reported previously, but no prior investigators have used both operationalized diagnostic criteria for psychopathology and a control group in their studies. Twenty-eight mothers of children with FTT and 22 mothers of normally developing control children were assessed for psychopathology by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R–Nonpatient Version (SCID-NP) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R–Personality Disorders (SCID-II). Affective disorders, personality disorders, and the COoccurrence in an indvidual of these two types of disorders were found at higher rates in mothers of children with FTT compared to controls. These results clarify prior reports of an association between failure to thrive and maternal psychopathology and may have implications for treatment approaches to FTT.