Social Experiences and Stranger Anxiety among Infants of Working and Nonworking Mothers.

Social experiences and stranger anxiety of infants of working (n=25) mothers were compared with those of infants of nonworking mothers (n=51) using the Goulet-Decarie modification (1974) of the infant-stranger prototype developed by Morgan & Riccuiti (1969). The number of hours spent in mother-child interaction on weekdays (F=3.30, p .10) did not differ according to mother’s work status (working vs. nonworking). Working mothers and nonworking mothers performed approximately the same number of caregiving tasks daily. Working mothers and nonworking mothers did not differ significantly on the age at which they first took their infants on a trip outside the home (t(67)=1.30, p<.10). The effects of mother’s employment status, sex of the infant, and age of the infant on the intensity of anxiety experienced by infants in the experimental approach by a stranger were analyzed. Overall, the responses were slightly positive. Maternal work status was not found to be a significant parameter in infant reactions to a stranger except when physical contact was involved.