Neurobiology
Joan Stevenson-Hinde
Senior Research Fellow
Email: jgs11@cam.ac.uk
Tel.: +44 (0)1223 741817
Behavioural inhibition in young children; Maternal anxiety; Aspects of the mother/child relationship including attachment.
Recent OPCS results show that anxiety disorders are the most prevalent of the adult neurotic disorders. Furthermore, anxiety disorders tend to aggregate in families, due to both genetic and environmental contributions (e.g., Beidel, D.C. & Turner, S.M. (1997). J. of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 918-924). A key environmental contribution arises from the mother/child relationship. This is our research focus, with a view to forming hypotheses for early intervention.
One possible behavioural mechanism of transmission is that parents who are themselves anxious may offer a model of caution and fearfulness, coupled with overprotection of their children. Our current longitudinal study, of mothers selected for medium/high levels of anxiety (and a control group), assesses this hypothesis. Children and their mothers have been observed at home and in the laboratory when the children were 4 - 4.5 years old - before starting primary school.
The sample is now being followed into the school years, with a focus on maternal anxiety as well as outcome measures for the child - including anxiety, self-esteem, and internalizing/externalizing problems in the primary school setting. A multi-method approach is used throughout, with questionnaires to mothers, fathers and teachers, as well as interviews and direct observations.
Selected publications
- Marshall, P.J. & Stevenson-Hinde, J. (1998). Behavioral inhibition, heart period, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia in young children. Developmental Psychobiology 33: 283-292.
- Stevenson-Hinde, J. & Shouldice, A. (1995). Maternal interactions and self-reports related to attachment classifications at 4.5 years. Child Development, 66: 583-596.
- Stevenson-Hinde, J. & Shouldice, A. (1995). 4.5 to 7 years: Fearful behaviour, fears and worries. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 36: 1027-1038.
- Stevenson-Hinde, J. & Glover, A. (1996). Shy girls and boys: A new look. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry 37: 181-187.
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