Behavior toward mother and stranger of infants who have experienced group day care, individual care, or exclusive maternal care.

Social behaviors of 60, 12-month-old infants were studied, with the use of a structured observational technique. Infants behaviors were related to sex of infant and to experience in one of three types of care: maternal home rearing, individual babysitter, or group day care. The provision of nonmaternal care and the specific type of nonmaternal care appeared to influence the social behaviors of the two sexes differently. Home-reared girls tended to exhibit fewer and less intense behaviors that were aimed at maintaining or regaining maternal proximity. Girls experiencing nonmaternal care exhibited more maternal proximity attaining behaviors than did home-rearing girls, whereas boys experiencing nonmaternal care exhibited fewer maternal proximity attaining behaviors than home-reared boys. The interactions of type of care and sex of infant led to a consideration of differential sensitivity of the sexes to rearing conditions.