Interest in Babies during Young Adulthood

Interest in babies was studied in 120 young adult males and females belonging to 4 stages of life: cohabiting singles, childless-married, those expecting their first child, and parents of an infant. Measures included responsivity to an unfamiliar baby in a waiting-room situation, interest in pictures of babies, and a sex-role self-concept inventory. Stages in the family life-cycle were of no relevance to males' interest in babies but were found to trigger females' interest. Specifically, mothers of infants were more responsive to babies than were childless subjects. Sex differences in responsiveness to babies were absent for the 3 childless groups but emerged at parenthood, reflecting the increased sensitivity of new mothers to babies. Femininity scores from a sex-role self-concept correlated modestly with interest in babies, as did experience with infants. The findings are discussed in terms of differential role demands and contact with babies.