Contact Seeking with an Unfamiliar Adult in Day-Care and Home-Reared Children as a Function of Adult's Seating Position and Mother's Presence Or Absence

Abstract

During the first day, children ( M, 3.8 yr.) participated in two sets of three sessions. Sessions 1, 2, and 3 involved being alone with an adult, with an adult and the child's mother, and alone with an adult. In one set, the adult sat on the floor while in the other set she sat on a chair. Each session lasted 3 min. An observer recorded whether the child touched the adult within each 15-sec. period within the session. The dependent variable was the number of periods within the session for which a touch occurred. The first day's procedure was repeated on two successive days. Children were much more likely to make contact with the adult when she was sitting on the floor than when she was sitting up in a chair. It was speculated that this was either due to the adult being down on the child's level or due to the opportunity to use the adult's lap as a chair when the adult was sitting on the floor. Other findings in the study included greater contact with the adult by children attending day care than children not attending day care.