Young children of mentally ill mothers and well mothers were administered the WPPSI. Mother and child were observed in the test situation and mothers were administered the Maternal Attitude Scale and a measure of intelligence. Even partialling out mothers' IQ, scores of mothers who believe in encouraging the child's interaction with the environment correlated with child's IQ. Lower birth weight and greater birth complications were related to maternal attitudes reflecting continuation of the mother-child symbiosis and, among well mothers, more intrusive behavior in the test situation was also related to the belief in the importance of continuing the symbiosis as well as to greater denial of child-rearing concerns.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdornoT. W.Frenkel-BrunswikE.LevinsonD. J.SanfordN.The authoritarian personality. New York: Harper, 1950.
2.
AnthonyE. J.A clinical and experimental study of high-risk children and their schizophrenic parents. In KaplanA. R. (Ed.), Genetic factors in schizophrenia. Springfield, Ill.: Thomas, 1972. Pp. 380–406.
3.
AnthonyE. J.A risk vulnerability intervention model for children of psychotic parents. In AnthonyE.KoupernikC. (Eds.), The child in his family: Children at psychiatric risk. New York: Wiley, 1974. Pp. 99–122.
4.
BeckwithL.Relationships between attributes of mothers and their infants' IQ scores. Child Development, 1971, 42, 1083–1097.
5.
BellR. Q.A reinterpretation of the direction of effects in studies of socialization. Psychological Review, 1968, 71, 81–95.
6.
BellR. Q.Stimulus control of parent or caretaker behavior by offspring. Developmental Psychology, 1971, 4, 63–72.
7.
BellR. Q.Contributions of human infants to caregiving and social interaction. In LewisM.RosenblumL. (Eds.), The effect of the infant on his caregiver. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1974. Pp. 1–20.
8.
BrazeltonT. B.KoslowskiB.MainM.The origins of reciprocity: The early mother-infant interaction. In LewisM.RosenblumL. (Eds.), The effect of the infant on his caregiver. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1974. Pp. 49–76.
9.
BrodyG.Relationship between maternal attitudes and behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1965, 2, 317–323.
10.
CohlerB.Character, mental illness and mothering. In GrunebaumH.WeissJ.CohlerB.HartmanC.GallantD. (Eds.), Mentally ill mothers and their children. Chicago: Univer. of Chicago Press, 1975. Pp. 234–314. (a).
11.
CohlerB.The Maternal Attitude Scale. In JohnsonO. (Ed.), Handbook of child development measures. (Rev. ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1977. Pp. 810–813.
12.
CohlerB.WeissJ.GrunebaumH.Child care attitudes and emotional disturbance among mothers of young children. Genetic Psychology Monographs, 1970, 82, 3–47.
13.
CohlerB.WoolseyS.WeissJ.GrunebaumH.Childrearing attitudes among mothers volunteering and re volunteering for a psychological study. Psychological Reports, 1968, 23, 603–612.
14.
EkdahlM.RiceE.SchmidtW.Children of parents hospitalized for mental illness. American Journal of Public Health, 1962, 52, 428–435.
15.
Erlenmeyer-KimlingL.Studies on the offspring of two schizophrenic parents. In RosenthalD.KetyS. (Eds.), The transmission of schizophrenia. Oxford: Pergamon, 1968. Pp. 65–83.
16.
FishB.ShapiroT.HalpernF.WileR.The prediction of schizophrenia in infancy: III. A ten-year follow-up report of neurological and psychological development. American Journal of Psychiatry, 1965, 121, 768–775.
17.
FishB.WileR.ShapiroT.HalpernF.The prediction of schizophrenia in infancy: II. A ten-year follow-up report of predictions made at one month of age. In HochP.ZubinJ. (Eds.), Psychopathology of schizophrenia. New York: Grune & Stratton, 1966. Pp. 335–353.
18.
GallantD.Children of mentally ill mothers. In GrunebaumH.WeissJ.CohlerB.HartmanC.GallantD. (Eds.), Mentally ill mothers and their children. Chicago: Univer. of Chicago Press, 1974. Pp. 177–233.
19.
GarmezyN.Children at risk: The search for antecedents of schizophrenia: Part I. Conceptual models and research methods. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1974, Spring, 14–90. (a).
20.
GarmezyN.Children at risk: The search for alternatives of schizophrenia: Parr II. Ongoing research programs, issues and intervention. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 1974, Summer, 55–125. (b).
21.
GarmezyN.Observations on high-risk research and premorbid development in schizophrenia. In WynneL.CromwellR.MatthyseeS. (Eds.), The nature of schizophrenia. New York: Wiley, 1978. Pp. 460–471.
22.
GordonJ. E.The validity of Shoben's Parent Attitude Survey. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1957, 13, 197–202.
23.
GrunebaumH.WeissJ.GallantD.CohlerB.HartmanC.Mentally ill mothers in the hospital and at home. In AbromsG.GreenfieldN. (Eds.), The new hospital psychiatry. New York: Academic Press, 1971. Pp. 159–174.
24.
HansonD.GottesmanI.MeehlP.Genetic theories and the validation of psychiatric diagnoses: Implications for the study of children of schizophrenics. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1977, 86, 575–588.
25.
JensenA.How much can we boost I.Q. and scholastic achievement?Harvard Educational Review, 1969, 39, 1–123.
26.
KatzD.The functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1960, 24, 163–204.
27.
KatzD.StotlandE.A preliminary statement to a theory of attitude change. In KochS. (Ed.), Psychology: A study of a science. Vol. 3, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959. Pp. 423–475.
28.
LevyD.Maternal overprotection. New York: Columbia Univer. Press, 1943.
29.
LewisM.Lee-PainterS.An interactional approach to the mother-infant dyad. In LewisM.RosenblumL. (Eds.), The effect of the infant on his caregiver. New York: Wiley, 1974. Pp. 21–48.
30.
MahlerM.On the first three sub-phases of the separation-individuation press. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 1972, 53, 333–338.
31.
MahlerM.PineF.BergmanA.The psychological birth of the human infant. New York: Basic Books, 1975.
32.
MauraE. L.Pregnancy and delivery complications in schizophrenic women. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York School for Social Research, 1971.
33.
McClellanS.PughF.Childhood development following maternal mental illness. Paper presented at 90th annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, Miami, Florida, 1962.
34.
McClellandD.Personality. New York: Dryden Press, 1951.
35.
McNeilT.KaijL.Obstetric factors in the development of schizophrenia: Complications in the births of preschizophrenics and in reproduction by schizophrenic parents. In WynneL.CromwellR.MatthyseeS. (Eds.), The nature of schizophrenia. New York: Wiley, 1978. Pp. 401–429.
36.
MednickS.Breakdown in individuals at high risk for schizophrenia: Possible predispositional perinatal factors. Mental Hygiene, 1970, 54, 50–63.
37.
MednickS.MauraE.SchulsingerF.MednickB.Perinatal conditions and infant development in children with schizophrenic parents. Social Biology, 1971, 18, 103–113.
38.
MednickS.MauraE.SchulsingerE.MednickB.Erratum and further analysis: “Perinatal conditions and infant development in children with schizophrenic parents.”Social Biology, 1973, 20, 111.
39.
MednickS.SchulsingerF.Some premorbid characteristics related to breakdown in children with schizophrenic mothers. In RosenthalD.KetyS. (Eds.), The transmission of schizophrenia. New York: Pergamon, 1968. Pp. 267–292.
40.
MossH.Sex, age, and state as determinants of mother-infant interaction. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1967, 13, 19–36.
41.
OrinsteinA.An investigation of parental child-rearing attitudes and creativity in children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Univer. of Denver, 1961.
42.
RiceE.EkdahlM.MillerL.Children of mentally ill parents. New York: Behavioral Publ., 1971.
43.
RiederR.The offspring of schizophrenic parents: A review. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1973, 157, 179–190.
44.
RosenthalD.The genetics of schizophrenia. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971.
45.
RosenthalD.Issues in high-risk studies of schizophrenia. In RicksD.ThomasA.RoffM. (Eds.), Life history research in psychopathology. Vol. III. Minneapolis: Univer. of Minnesota Press, 1974. Pp. 25–41.
46.
RutschmannJ.CornblattB.Erlenmeyer-KimlingL.Sustained attention in children at risk for schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1977, 34, 571–575.
47.
RutterM.Children of sick parents: An environmental and psychiatric study. Maudsley Monograph, 1966, No. 16.
48.
SameroffA.ZaxM.Perinatal characteristics of the offspring of schizophrenic women. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 1973, 157, 191–199.
49.
SanderL.Issues in early mother-child interaction. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 1962, 2, 141–166.
50.
SanderL.Adaptive relationships in early mother-child interaction. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 1964, 3, 221–263.
51.
SanderL.The longitudinal course of early mother-child interaction: Cross-case comparison in a sample of mother-child pairs. In FossB. (Ed.), Determinants of infant behavior. London: Methuen, 1969. Pp. 189–228.
52.
SarnoffI.Psychoanalytic theory and social attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1960, 24, 251–279.
53.
SchaeferE.BellR.Development of a parental attitude research instrument. Child Development, 1958, 29, 339–361.
54.
SmithH.A comparison of interview and observation measures of mother behavior. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1958, 57, 278–282.
55.
SmithM. B.BrunerJ.WhiteR.Opinions and personality. New York: Wiley, 1956.
56.
SroufeL. A.A methodological and philosophical critique of intervention oriented research. Developmental Psychology, 1970, 2, 140–145.
57.
SternD.Mother and infant at play: The dyadic interaction involving facial, vocal, and gaze behaviors. In LewisM.RosenblumL. (Eds.), The effect of the infant on his caregiver. New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1974. Pp. 187–214.
58.
TermanL.MerrillM.Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Manual for the third revision, Form L-M. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960.
59.
TulkinS.CohlerB.Childrearing attitudes and mother-child interaction in the first year of life. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 1973, 19, 95–106.
60.
Western Psychological Services. Manual for the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale. Beverly Hills, CA: Western Psychological Services, 1963.
61.
ZunichM.A study of the relationships between child-rearing attitudes and maternal behavior. Journal of Experimental Education, 1961, 30, 231–241.
62.
ZunichM.Relationship between maternal behavior and attitudes toward children. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1962, 100, 155–165. (a).
63.
ZunichM.The relation between parental attitudes toward child-rearing and child behavior. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1962, 26, 197. (b).
