Comparative tactile behavior of mothers and fathers with their newborn infants.

The style with which parents touch their newborn infant was studied. Our method was to film mothers and fathers holding their awake infants and to code detailed features of their tactile behavior using time-sampling analysis to measure frequency of events and continuous event recording to measure duration. The results show that both mothers and fathers made tactile contact with their infant for an equal amount of time and frequency, but that mothers touch/stroke their infants more than they pat/shake them. Fathers did not show any preference for either tactile style. Mothers preferentially targeted the infant's hand and face more than the body, while fathers preferred to touch the infant's hand. These results suggest that mothers' propensity to "caretake" their infants and fathers' tendency to play with their infant are reflected in the fine details of their parental behavior.