H.J.A. van Bakel

Radboud University Nijmegen, Tilburg University

Papers

Total Citations

213

H-Index

About

H.J.A. van Bakel is a developmental psychologist whose research centers on early parent-child relationships, infant stress physiology, and the origins of social-emotional development. Her landmark study on stress reactivity in 15-month-old infants (137 citations) demonstrated how infant temperament, cognitive competence, and attachment security shape cortisol responses to novel and frightening situations, providing foundational evidence that individual differences in stress regulation emerge early in life. In a highly cited follow-up work (76 citations), van Bakel extended this line of inquiry to examine adrenocortical and behavioral attunement between parents and their one-year-old infants, revealing that sensitive, well-attuned parents show greater physiological synchrony with their child's stress responses. This research has been instrumental in understanding how caregiving environments shape children's developing stress regulation systems. Van Bakel's work bridges developmental psychobiology and attachment theory, offering critical insights into the mechanisms by which early relationships influence long-term emotional health and resilience.