Young children's quarrels with their siblings and mothers: Links with maternal depression and bipolar illness

Patterns of conflict amongst a mother and two young children were recorded for 55 families in the US. The mother was well in 19 families, depressed in 20, and had bipolar illness in 16. Sibling conflict occurred least often when the mother had bipolar illness. Mother-child conflict occurred most often when the elder child was male, but depressed mothers were likely to quarrel with their elder daughters. Mothers allied with elder rather than younger children, but depressed mothers were especially likely to uphold the rights of protesters. Compensatory influence was noted across relationships, so that children whose actions were protested by mothers were less likely to object to the behaviour of their siblings. In general, when mothers were well, families experienced frequent, but mild conflict; when mothers had bipolar illness, the relationship between the mother and the elder son was especially fraught; and when mothers were depressed, conflicts were more likely to escalate and to occur between mothers and daughters.