One hundred and twelve Caucasian mothers (recently separated from their husbands) and their children (6-12 years old) who were participating in a larger longitudinal study of the effects of parental divorce on families were interviewed and completed psychological measures about coping and parenting. Based on mothers' responses to a parenting attitudes questionnaire, two factors were selected which measured openness to communication (open expression factor) and hostility (hostility factor). These factors were found to be related to mothers' and children's reports of physical and mental health, and to qualitative aspects of their relationship as measured in a videotaped play observation session (play interaction). The scores of mothers of sons vs. daughters did not significantly differ for either the open expression factor or the hostility factor. Mothers who rated themselves high on the open expression factor were more supportive and their children responded more positively to them. Conversely, mothers who rated themselves high on the hostility factor were less interactive, at least with boys, and their sons were non-interactive or negative in turn. Parenting attitudes were also related to mothers' self-reports of adjustment, to their ratings of their children's adjustment, and even to their children's self-reports. The direction of effect is unclear, but the issues that surround mother-son relationships are clearly shown to differ from those surrounding mother-daughter relationships. (BJD)