SOCIAL AND PLAY RESPONSES OF FIRST-BORN AND LATER-BORN INFANTS IN AN UNFAMILIAR SITUATION

Abstract

Responses to a stranger and to a novel toy were measured in 12 first-born infants and 6 infants whose next sibling was 6 or more years older. Also tested were 18 later-borns whose age-spacing to next sibling was 5 years or less and who were matched to the other infants in age, sex, and socioeconomic status of parents. Subjects ranged in age from 38 to 56 weeks and were cared for predominately by their mothers. First-born and widely spaced infants were found to pause longer before picking up the toy, to play less, to cry more, and to smile later and less often than later-borns with preschool siblings. It was concluded that infants exposed to few persons tend to show more fear and fewer positive social responses toward strangers than do infants exposed to many.