THE SOCIAL WORLDS OF 8-MONTH-OLD AND 12-MONTH-OLD INFANTS - EARLY EXPERIENCES IN 2 SUBCULTURAL CONTEXTS

In this study, we explored the everyday experiences of 40 infants from families who migrated recently from Central America to the US. Another 42 infants from middle class families of Euro-American background were included to facilitate the evaluation of our methodology and findings. Detailed descriptions of the previous 24 hours were obtained by interviewing the mothers when their infants were 8 and 12 months of age. The infants' experiences and activities were very similar in both groups, and the effects of the mothers', fathers' or others' presence on ongoing activities were similar, too. The groups differed with regard to (1) the circadian distribution of activities, (2) opportunities for interactions with various people, and (3) the differences between weekdays and weekends. Overall, the social worlds of the Central American children were characterized by the simultaneous presence of several people and thus by multiple social partners. The social worlds of the Euro-American children were characterized by more opportunities for dyadic interactions and by exposure to fewer partners.