THE RELATION OF INFANT CRYING AND THE SEX OF THE INFANT TO PARENTS PERCEPTIONS OF THE INFANT AND THEMSELVES

Mothers and fathers of first-born four-month-old infants (53 boys, 47 girls) completed semantic differentials that measured evaluation and p otency perceptions of their infant and themselves as a parent. Infant crying diaries were also kept by parents for a four day period. Althou gh no sex differences were found in the amount of infant crying, both mothers and fathers perceived their daughters, but not sons, more nega tively as infant crying increased. Additionally, as infant crying incr eased, mothers of boys rated their sons as more powerful, while mother s of girls rated their daughters as less powerful. Girls', but not boy s', crying was negatively related to mothers' self-evaluation ratings; this finding was not true of fathers. These findings indicate that in fant crying and the sex of the infant differentially affect mothers' a nd fathers' perceptions of their infant and themselves during the tran sition to parenthood.