The study of prematurity stereotyping is important because the optimal development of premature infants may be threatened by the operation of the stereotape. The study was conducted in which mothers were asked to rate unfamiliar infants shown on videotapes. The infants were described as either full term or premature and as either male or female. Each mother was asked to rate the infant on 23,7-point adjective scales(S-KISS) and to answer several other questionnaires(LOT, PSI). In the study, infants labeled premature were rated more negatively than were infants labeled full term, but infants labeled male and female were rated similarly. The behavioral implications for child rearing as a result of this "prematurity stereotyping" were considered. Correlational analyses revealed significant relationships between prematurity stereotyping and parenting stress, optinism and parenting stress. Optimism effects parenting stress