Infancy

This chapter is the first of four to address beliefs about particular parts of the developmental span. It begins with work on parents’ knowledge of infancy, both infancy in general (e.g., milestones of development) and their own infant in particular. The middle section of the chapter considers parental beliefs and related behaviors with respect to three infant behaviors that often pose challenges for parents: crying, sleeping, and eating. The chapter concludes with a discussion of two major outcomes of development that have their origins in infancy: attachment and temperament. Here, and in general, parents play two roles in the research literature: as informants of their children’s characteristics (i.e., parent-report measures) and as contributors, via their beliefs and behaviors, to these characteristics.