This study explores cultural influences in the first three months of life by comparing the daily experiences of first generation Chinese-American and European-American infants whose parents were born in the United States. The study focused on 10 Chinese-American and 10 European-American families whose mothers were recruited during the third trimester of pregnancy. Observations were conducted in the home when the infants were 3 weeks, 1 month, 2 months and 3 months old. Some of the findings of the study include: (1) mothers from Chinese and European backgrounds provided similar amounts of attention in caring for the infant's biological needs; (2) European-American mothers consistently introduced change and novelty into the microcosm of the infant's day, whereas Chinese-American mothers did not spend as much time redirecting the infant's attention or behavior; (3) European-American mothers modulated their behavior according to their infant's activity level, vocal output, and patterns of orality; (4) Chinese-American infants spent less time attending to people and smiling than did European infants of the same age; (5) European-American mothers more frequently used kissing to show affection than did their Chinese-American counterparts; and (6) Chinese-American and European-American mothers demonstrated few differences in the presence of a crying baby. (RJC)