title: EMOTIONAL AVAILABILITY IN MOTHER-CHILD INTERACTION: THE EFFECTS OF MATERNAL DEPRESSION IN REMISSION AND ADDITIONAL HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD ABUSE.
abstract: The association between maternal depression and adverse outcomes in children is well established. Similar links have been found for maternal childhood abuse. One proposed pathway of risk transmission is reduced maternal emotional availability. Our aim was to investigate whether sensitive parenting is impaired in mothers with depression in remission, and whether among these mothers childhood abuse has an additional impact.
  
  
  
  The mother-child interaction of 188 dyads was assessed during a play situation using the Emotional Availability Scales, which measure the overall affective quality of the interaction: maternal sensitivity, structuring, nonhostility, and nonintrusiveness. Mothers with depression in remission were compared to healthy mothers. Children were between 5 and 12 years old. Group differences and impact of additional childhood abuse were analyzed by one-factorial analyses of covariance and planned contrasts.
  
  
  
  Mothers with depression in remission showed less emotional availability during mother-child interaction compared to healthy control mothers. Specifically, they were less sensitive and, at trend-level, less structuring and more hostile. Among these mothers, we found an additional effect of severe maternal childhood abuse on maternal sensitivity: Mothers with depression in remission and a history of severe childhood abuse were less sensitive than remitted mothers without childhood abuse.
  
  
  
  Our data suggest that depression impacts on maternal emotional availability during remission, which might represent a trait characteristic of depression. Mothers with depression in remission and additional severe childhood abuse were particularly affected. These findings may contribute to the understanding of children's vulnerability to develop a depressive disorder themselves.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Dorothea
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kluczniok
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Virchow, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boedeker
authors.affiliation: Section for Disorders of Personality Development, Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hindi Attar
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fydrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Virchow, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fuehrer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Katja
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dittrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Corinna
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reck
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Virchow, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Sibylle
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Winter
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heinz
authors.affiliation: Department for General Psychiatry, Center of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Sabine C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Herpertz
authors.affiliation: Section for Disorders of Personality Development, Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Centre of Psychosocial Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Romuald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brunner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité Campus Mitte, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bermpohl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012075:Remission, Spontaneous
keywords: abuse; child/adolescent; depression; family/marital; maltreatment; maternal-child; neglect