CHILDRENS SELF-PRESENTATIONS WITH INFANTS - GENDER AND ETHNIC COMPARISONS

The assumption of differential socialization experiences lead to the h ypothesis that African American children would be less stereotyped in their responses to infants than White American children. This study of fifty-three 8-10-year-old children from African American and White Am erican working-to-middle class families supported the hypothesis. The children were photographed with a peer, an infant, and with an infant while acting as a parent. All children stood significantly closer to t he infant in the role condition and exhibited more attraction behavior . As predicted, gender differences were evident between White girls an d boys, but not between African American girls and boys. Findings sugg ested that social preferences for infants cannot be necessarily linked to gender. Discussion of the findings from earlier study with younger children (Reid et al., 1989) supported this conclusion.