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 relations our research has identified - between parental anxiety, child's behavioural inhibition, and insecurity of attachment - suggest targets for early intervention.

Selected Publications
Stevenson-Hinde, J. and Glover, A (1996). Shy girls and boys: A new look. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 37, 181-187.

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. (2005). On the interplay between attachment, temperament, and maternal style. In K. E. Grossmann, K, Grossman, and E. Waters (Eds.), The Power and Dynamics of Longitudinal Attachment Research, pp 198-222. New York: Guilford Press.

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. and Hinde, C.A. (in press). 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.