Paternal care of infants during maternal separations: associations with father-infant interaction at one year.

Observations of father-infant interaction in the home environment at age one year were compared for two groups of infants that in the months preceding the observations differed in the amount of experience they had with their fathers when the mother was outside the home. The sample consisted of 46 middle-class families, each with a first-born infant (23 males, 23 females). Estimates of the amount of experience the father had with the infant when the mother was outside the home were obtained from detailed maternal interviews that addressed all mother-infant separations. At one year, fathers who provided more extensive care in the absence of the mother showed a higher degree of breadth or variety in their patterns of engaging the infant and higher rates of behavior directed to the infant. These infants showed higher rates of responding to their fathers and more frequent instances of exploratory behavior. Distinctive patterns of differences were evident in the behavior of fathers and infants who had contrasting amounts of experience with each other in social contexts without the mother.