| Abstract: | Twenty premature and 20 fullterm infants participated in study of stranger sociability and infant-mother attachment. The preterms were born 4–10 weeks early and had a mean birth weight of 1990 grams. The two groups of infants did not differ on variables such as SES or time between hospital discharge and laboratory assessment. Stranger sociability was assessed in the Stevenson and Lamb (1979) procedure, and security of attachment in the Strange Situation (Ainsworth & Wittig, 1969). Mothers also completed questionnaires on child-rearing attitudes, perinatal anxiety, and infant temperament. Results showed that birth status was unrelated to both attachment and sociability. Securely attached infants were more sociable, however, and were perceived as more “easy” than insecurely attached infants. Difficult infants were less sociable than infants perceived as easy. |
