Maternal behavior and cognitive vulnerability in early adolescence

Cognitive vulnerabilities to depression have been thought to develop in the context of unsupportive and conflictual parent-child relationships. This study examined indicators of maternal behavior-maternal critical expressed emotion and maternal positivity and aversiveness during problem-solving interaction tasks-and their relationship to two cognitive vulnerability indicators-negative cognitive style and negative automatic thoughts. It was predicted that maternal behavior would add to the prediction of cognitive vulnerabilities beyond what would be predicted from children's depressive symptoms alone. The role of maternal depressive symptoms, child gender, and child pubertal status were also considered. Findings suggested, as anticipated, a strong relationship between cognitive vulnerabilities and children's depressive symptoms; however, beyond this association, there were limited and complex relationships between maternal behavior and cognitive vulnerabilities that were moderated by gender and maternal depressive symptoms. The relationship between maternal positivity and optimism in the face of positive events was moderated by gender such that there was a significantly more positive relationship between maternal positivity and optimism for girls than for boys. Further, maternal positivity interacted with maternal depressive symptoms in their association with children's cognitive style such that maternal positivity was associated with more optimism in the face of positive events when maternal depressive symptoms where high. These findings underscore the need to consider the role of maternal behavior in the development of cognitive vulnerabilities within a broader context of risk factors.