ABSTRACT
Adulthood has been described in terms of tasks that adults must accomplish (Havighurst, 1972). One important task is taking care of infants and children. In the United States, the task of caring for infants has most often been carried out by mothers. Increasingly, however, individuals who are initially strangers are caring for infants. This chapter compares the behavior of mothers and strangers when they are taking care of young infants. Such a comparison can be useful in understanding how care-giving behavior develops in parents.
