Dr Joan Stevenson-Hinde

+44 (0)1223 741817
jgs11@cam.ac.uk

Research
Behavoural inhibition in young children; Family functioning; Aspects of the mother/child relationship including attachment.

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent of the adult neurotic disorders. Furthermore, anxiety tends to aggregate in families, due to both genetic and environmental contributions. A key environmental contribution for the development of anxiety in young children arises from the mother/child relationship and family functioning. Consistent with Bowlby's attachment theory, we have found that maternal anxiety is associated with the development of an insecure-anxious pattern of attachment between child and mother. The inter-relations our research has identified - between parental anxiety, child's behavioural inhibition, and insecurity of attachment - suggest targets for early intervention.

Since I am officially retired, I no longer undertake further research, but do continue writing and collaborating.

Selected Publications

Stevenson-Hinde, J and Marshall, P.J. (1999). Behavioral inhibition, heart period, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia: An attachment perspective. Child Development 70, 805-616.

Stevenson-Hinde, J., Curley, J., Chicot, R. and Johannsson, C. (2007). Anxiety within families: Interrelations, consistency and change. Family Process 46, 543-556.

Stevenson-Hinde, J. (2011). Culture and socioemotional development, with a focus on fearfulness and attachment. In X. Chen and K.H. Rubin(eds), Sociomentional Development in Cultural Contxt. (pp. 11-28) New York: Guilford Press.

Stevenson-Hinde, J. Shouldice, A. and Chicot, R. (2011). Maternal anxiety, behavioural inhibition, and attachment. Attachment and human development 13, 199-215.

Stevenson-Hinde, J. and Hinde, C.A. (2011). Individual characteristics - Weaving psychological and ethological approaches. In A. Weiss, J. King and L. Murray (eds), Personality, Temperament, and Behavioral Syndromes in Nonhuman Primates. New York: Springer.