Jury report for prof. dr. M.H. (Marinus) van IJzendoorn

Professor of child and family studies at Leiden University

Professor Van IJzendoorn receives the NWO Spinoza prize 2004 for, amongst other things, providing a scientific basis for attachment theory.

Marinus van IJzendoorn (Tiel, 14 May 1952) has been professor of child and family studies at Leiden University since 1981. He graduated in 1976 with a distinction in education from the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Two years later, in 1978, Van IJzendoorn obtained his doctorate with a great distinction from the Free University of Berlin. From 1978 to 1981 he was a researcher at Leiden University and in 1981, at the age of 29 years, he was appointed as a professor there. Van IJzendoorn has been a visiting researcher in the United States and in Israel on several occasions. In 1990 he received a Pioneer grant from NWO which he used to set up a new research group. Five of his former Ph.D. students have since become professors.

Van IJzendoorn's subject is child developement and child rearing. He has specialised in attachment theory. Broadly speaking this theory says that all children are evolutionarily 'programmed' to somehow develop an attachment to a parent. Only children who are securely attached to their parents, in other words children who can find support and comfort from their parents when needed, have the best chances of optimal development. Van IJzendoorn was the first to use large-scale meta-analyses to combine the results from many attachment studies in a statistically responsible manner. He provided a thorough scientific basis for the theory and he was the first who tried to make evidence-based practical recommendations.

Van IJzendoorn and his group demonstrated that parents usually transmit on their own experiences with attachment relationships to their children. But together with German and Israeli researchers, Van IJzendoorn discovered that survivors of the Holocaust were often successful in protecting their children and grandchildren from their own horrendous experiences. The measuring instrument for these studies was validated by his group and has now become a worldwide standard.

Together with Israeli researchers, Van IJzendoorn also demonstrated that children who grew up in a traditional kibbutz were less frequently securely attached to their parents than children who were raised in a family. Further, Van IJzendoorn and his group discovered that day care children become attached not only to their parents but to the professional day care providers as well.

Referees call Van IJzendoorn an outstanding scientist of world class. He works in an extremely thorough and accurate manner. Van IJzendoorn and his group have furnished child and family studies in the Netherlands with an international reputation. He is full of plans and brimming with energy. It is therefore expected that the money from the NWO Spinoza prize will be well spent on Van IJzendoorn.

Further information for the press available from:

prof. dr. M.H. (Marinus) van IJzendoorn (Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University)

t: +31 (0)71 527 34 35 / 34, vanijzen@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

http://www.childandfamilystudies.leidenuniv.nl/index.php3?m=154&c=142

This jury report served as the basis for the speech given by Prof. H. de Ridder-Symoens at the announcement ceremony for the NWO Spinoza prizes 2004 on 7 June.