A comparison of mother and father interaction with their six-month-old male and female infants

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Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the sex of the parent and his/her interaction with his/her six month old first‐born infants. Twenty‐two white, middle class mothers and fathers were videotaped interacting with their infants (11 male, 11 female) on ten tasks. Trained observers coded the parents' interaction with their infants on the following variables: physical contact, social/ verbal stimulation, object/material play, effectiveness, and responsiveness. The data was analyzed by conducting a 2 x 2 analysis of variance (sex of the parent and sex of the child). The significant findings were: Both mothers and fathers used more physical contact (.02 level) with their male infants and more object/material play (.006 level) with their female infants; mothers exhibited more social/ verbal behaviours (.04 level) with their infants than fathers did; fathers had more effect with female infants than with male infants (.03 level).

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