Schizophrenic (n= 53), depressed (n= 25), and well women (n= 23) were studied to determine the quality of their parenting and its affect on their 3-month to 5-year-old child's social and intellectual development. Most of the women were single parents; all were poor and Black. Parenting behavior was studied with observations in the lab and the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment inventory. Children's behavior was measured with an IQ test and social competence observation. Quality of parenting was lowest in schizophrenic women, and more variable in depressed women. Certain parenting practices significantly predicted children's IQ scores and social behavior. The mother's parenting practices, and not her diagnostic status per se, accounted for much of children's intellectual and social competence, supporting an interactional model for transmission of psychopathology from mother to child.(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)