In a previous paper, the authors found that impairment on the
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in adolescence was predictive of
bipolar disorder in young adulthood among offspring of mothers with
bipolar illness. In the present study, the authors explore the
contribution of maternal characteristics, beyond maternal mood disorder,
to the prediction of offspring dysfunction on the WCST. Results showed
that maternal bipolar disorder and maternal negativity were both
predictive of impaired performance on the WCST during adolescence. The
contribution of maternal negativity to offspring WCST impairment was not
better explained by maternal personality disorder, mother's
functional impairment, family loading for bipolar disorder, or offspring
disruptive behavioral disturbance. Findings did not support a moderator
model. However, support was found for a mediation model in which maternal
negativity contributed to risk for offspring bipolar disorder through its
negative association with apparent frontal lobe functioning, as measured
by the WCST. Findings are discussed from the perspective of a
vulnerability–stress model. In addition, the authors consider the
possibility that maternal negativity and offspring impairment on the WCST
may be reflective of a common heritable trait.The findings presented in this paper come from the doctoral
dissertation of the first author, which was funded by an NIMH Intramural
Research Training Award. The authors are enormously grateful to Anne
Mayfield, without whom this project would not have been possible. We are
deeply indebted to Ann S. Masten, W. Andrew Collins, L. Alan Sroufe,
Monica Luciana, and Carrie Borchardt, who provided support and guidance
throughout all stages of this project. We are also thankful to Robert
Asarnow for his advice and encouragement, and to Roger E. Meyer and Daniel
N. Klein for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper. In addition,
we acknowledge the contributions of Gail Inoff-Germain, who administered
diagnostic interviews and neuropsychological measures at adolescent
follow-up; Rula B. Garside, who undertook the painstaking job of
establishing interrater reliability; Erika Sundstrom, who devoted many
hours to data organization and quality assurance; and Sara Avery Torvik
and Patricia Kasdan, whose combined gifts of organization and warmth
created a comfortable atmosphere for study participants. Finally, we thank
the extraordinary research participants of the NIMH Childrearing Study,
who have shown enormous bravery and dedication by sharing with us 23 years
of their lives.