Abstract
Infant's fear of strangers was examined longitudinally between ages six and eighteen months. At 6 months (N=817) and 12 months (N=722), fear of strangers was assessed by mothers using a questionnaire concerning infant's reactions to strangers. At 18 months, a subsample of 33 infants were observed using a experimental procedure based on the work of Thompson and Lamb (1982). There were significant positive correlations between fear longitudinal study of strangers scores at 18 months and maternal reports at 6 and 12 months. This result suggests that individual differences in fear of strangers are relatively stable between 6 and 18 months. There were gender differences in fear of strangers at all three periods : as females tended to be more fearful than males.
