This study examined sex-role typing in older adults' interpretations of young children's behavior. Participants were 48 older adults averaging 64.7 years of age. Videotapes were made of the play behavior of each of two toddlers, a female and a male matched in body type, hair length, dress (plain tee shirt and shorts), and in the activities in which they were filmed. Subjects were shown the two videotapes under one of two conditions: half the subjects were deceived as to the sex of the children they were viewing, while the other half were correctly informed of the children's sex. Subjects were asked to indicate the amount of contact they had had with small children and to rate each child's behavior using a number of sex-linked adjectives. Results showed that females did not describe the children along stereotypic sex-role dimensions, ascribing similar characteristics to children of both sexes. Males reporting little contact with children described the children in stereotypic sex-role terms, while males reporting high contact reversed this pattern, describing children as possessing fewer stereotypic characteristics of their attributed sex. (Author/JMB)