Parents' reactions to brief separations from their infant children were investigated in this study. Participants included a total of 16 female and 16 male 10-month-old infants, together with their mothers and fathers. From the pool of 64 parents, one parent in each family was randomly chosen to serve as subject. The selection of subjects was made so that equal numbers of parents with first- and later-born infants and equal numbers of mothers and fathers participated. The selected parents were unaware that they had been chosen as subjects. After parents and children were separated, subjects heard cries attributable to their children and were told they could return at any time to the playroom to investigate. Time from the onset of recorded cries until the subject opened the playroom door was recorded as a primary measure of parental responsiveness or wariness. When the parent returned to the child, or after 10 minutes had elapsed, the experiment ended. The credibility of the procedure was then checked, and a questionnaire was administered. It was found that first-borns received quicker and more frequent attention from their parents than did later-born infants and that more mothers than fathers retrieved their infants. Sensitivity to infant distress was related to parents' experiences in caregiving. (Author/RH)