Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology Vol. 29, No. 2, April 2011, 148–161 ISSN 0264-6838 print/ISSN 1469-672X online © 2011 Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology DOI: 10.1080/02646838.2011.558074 http://www.informaworld.com Infant development in two cultural contexts: Cameroonian Nso farmer and German middle-class infants Arnold Lohaus* a , Heidi Keller b , Bettina Lamm b , Manuel Teubert a , Ina Fassbender a , Claudia Freitag c , Claudia Goertz d , Frauke Graf d , Thorsten Kolling d , Sibylle Spangler c , Marc Vierhaus a , Monika Knopf d , and Gudrun Schwarzer c a University of Bielefeld, Germany; b University of Osnabrueck, Germany; c University of Giessen, Germany; d University of Frankfurt, Germany Taylor and Francis CJRI_A_558074.sgm (Received 30 April 2010; final version received 24 January 2011) 10.1080/02646838.2011.558074 Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology 0264-6838 (print)/1469-672X (online) Original Article 2011 Taylor & Francis 00 0000002011 Prof. ArnoldLohaus arnold.lohaus@uni-bielefeld.de Objective and Background: Cultures differ in their emphases on specific developmental milestones which may be associated with early developmental differences. This study compares the developmental states of three- and six- month-old Cameroonian Nso farmer and German middle-class infants assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development. Methods: The Bayley Scales were used with 345 three-month-old infants in Cameroon (n = 73) and Germany (n = 272). Most of the infants were reassessed at six months of age ( n = 72 of the Cameroonian and n = 222 of the German infants). Results: The study showed significant differences in gross motor development in favour of the Cameroonian children and in receptive as well as expressive communication in favour of the German infants. These findings are consistent throughout both age samples. The cognitive and fine motor development is significantly advanced in the three- month-old German infants, but not at six months of age. Conclusion: The results are interpreted to reflect different socialisation strategies as a result of different cultural orientations of Cameroonian Nso and German middle-class mothers and it is important to assess developmental pathways in multiple cultural environments, in order to gain an understanding of the encompassing conceptions of development. Keywords: Bayley scales; cognitive development; motor development; language development; Cameroonian and German infants The early development of African rural infants has been of particular interest to anthropologists and psychologists, since it differs substantially from that of Euro- American babies (e.g. Konner, 1977; LeVine et al., 1994; Super, 1976). The most obvious differences have been reported for motor development, especially the devel- opment of gross motor milestones. Mary Ainsworth (1967) tested 13 Ganda infants with the Griffith Intelligence scale and reported that the Ganda babies sat, crawled, stood and walked much earlier than the average Western baby. With a larger Ganda sample in and around Kampala, Marcelle Geber tested 252 infants and small children using the Gesell Developmental Schedules. She reported momentary sitting at 4 months, sustained sitting at 5 months, standing independently at 7 months and first *Corresponding author. Email: arnold.lohaus@uni-bielefeld.de