Affective symptoms in young children of substance abusers correlate with parental distress

In families that included a chemically addicted father, the nonsubstance abusing mother was assessed using the Brief Symptom Inventory and her children were assessed for depression using the Children's Depression Inventory. The nonsubstance-abusing mothers were psychologically distressed and their distress correlated (positively for girls and negatively for boys) with their children's depression.