Cassidy co-edited the Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Implications[2] with Phillip Shaver. She is the author of two monographs on attachment theory published by the Society for Research in Child Development.[3][4] One of these monographs, Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation, cited 6229 times according to GoogleScholar, provided new insight into individual differences in parent-infant attachment relations as assessed through the Strange Situation.[5] Cassidy currently serves as co-editor of the journal Attachment and Human Development.[6]
Cassidy received a B.A. in English (magna cum laude) from Duke University. She subsequently attended New York University where she obtained an M.F.A. Cassidy then pursued graduate studies in Developmental Psychology at the University of Virginia where she completed her Ph.D. under the supervision of Mary Ainsworth in 1986.
Cassidy delivered the John Bowlby Memorial Lecture in 2010.
Research
Cassidy's research program focuses on attachment, family relationships, and social and emotional development in children and adolescents.[7] Her work expanded the attachment behavioral system developed by John Bowlby, which described internal working models as organized frameworks for understanding the world, developed by infants through experience with their caregivers. Cassidy's work linked secure attachment patterns in infancy with the development of empathy and altruism, school readiness, and successful peer relationships, and insecure patterns of attachment with child psychopathology.[8] Cassidy's work with Mary Main led to the identification of disorganized attachment, the fourth category of attachment styles in the Strange Situation. In this rare form of attachment, children will react inconsistently and often in a confused manner when presented with toys, strangers, and the separation and reunion with the mom.[9][10] Cassidy, along Mary Main and George Kaplan, found that a parent's “state of mind with respect to attachment” was predictive of his or her infant's pattern of attachment, which suggested intergenerational transmission of attachment patterns.[3][11] Her research on attachment theory has important clinical applications for understanding addiction[12] and for developing educational efforts to foster secure parent-child relationships.[13]
Representative Publications
Cassidy, J. (1988). Child-mother attachment and the self in six-year-olds. Child Development, 59(1), 121–134.
Cassidy, J. (1994). Emotion regulation: Influences of attachment relationships. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(2‐3), 228–249.
Cassidy, J., & Asher, S. R. (1992). Loneliness and peer relations in young children. Child Development, 63(2), 350–365.
Cassidy, J., & Berlin, L. J. (1994). The insecure/ambivalent pattern of attachment: Theory and research. Child Development, 65(4), 971–991.
Main, M., & Cassidy, J. (1988). Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period. Developmental Psychology, 24(3), 415–426.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1/2), 66–104.
^Handbook of attachment : theory, research, and clinical applications. Cassidy, Jude., Shaver, Phillip R. New York: Guilford Press. 1999. ISBN9781572308268. OCLC40489212.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^ abMain, Mary; Kaplan, Nancy; Cassidy, Jude (1985). "Security in Infancy, Childhood, and Adulthood: A Move to the Level of Representation". Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development. 50 (1/2): 66–104. doi:10.2307/3333827. JSTOR3333827.
^Lilienfeld, Scott O.; Lynn, Steven J.; Namy, Laura L. (March 25, 2017). Psychology: From Inquiry to Understanding (4th ed.). Hoboken: NJ: Pearson. p. 389. ISBN978-0134552514.
^Main, Mary; Cassidy, Jude (1988). "Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period". Developmental Psychology. 24 (3): 415–426. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.24.3.415.
^Richard., Gill (2014). Addictions From an Attachment Perspective : Do Broken Bonds and Early Trauma Lead to Addictive Behaviours?. London: Karnac Books. ISBN9781782201076. OCLC896800069.
^Powell, Bert (2013-09-20). The circle of security intervention : enhancing attachment in early parent-child relationships. New York. ISBN9781593853143. OCLC834390427.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)