Father-Infant and Mother-Infant Interaction in the First Year of Life

LAMB, MICHAEL E. Father-Infant and Mother-Infant Interaction in the First Year of Life. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 167-181. 20 infants were observed interacting with their mothers and fathers at home when they were 7, 8, 12, and 13 months of age. Infants showed no preference for either parent in the display of attachment behaviors, though both parents were consistently differentiated from a relatively unfamiliar investigator on these measures. This indicates that the infants were clearly attached to both parents from the beginning of attachment relations. Preferences in the display of affiliative behaviors were accounted for largely by differences in the degree of adult activity in interaction with the infants. As they grew older, infants were increasingly likely to direct attachment behaviors to all 3 adults. Infants responded more positively to father-infant play, though there were few differences in the types of play the parents initiated. Mothers held the infants most often to engage in caretaking functions, while fathers held them most often to play. It is argued that the father-infant and mother-infant relationships may involve different kinds of experiences for infants, such that the two parents have differential influences on personality development from infancy onward.