Developmental Differences in Primary Reaching Responses of Young Infants from Varying Social Backgrounds

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Abstract
Infants 4 and 7 mo. old, from disadvantaged and middle-class homes and from institutions, were tested for various reaching and manipulation responses to a static and moving red ring. At each age level infants from middle-class homes had more developed reaching and manipulation responses than infants in unstimulating disadvantaged homes and institutions, demonstrating that the developmental lag of the disadvantaged infants can be detected as early as 4 mo. By 7 mo. of age all disadvantaged and institutionalized infants developed the reaching behaviors present in the middle-class infants at 4 mo., indicating that sociocultural factors may change the rate of development but not its course.