Department of Human Ecology

Interests: Social-Emotional, Family, Biological
Life Phases: Infancy, Early Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood

Professor Belsky is an internationally recognized expert in the field of child development and family studies. His areas of special expertise include the effects of day care, parent-child relations during the infancy and early childhood years, the transition to parenthood, the etiology of child maltreatment and the evolutionary basis of parent and child functioning. Dr. Belsky's research is marked by a focus upon fathers as well as mothers, marriages as well as parent-child relations, and naturalistic home observations of family interaction patterns. It is both basic and applied in its character. He is a founding and collaborating investigator on the NICHD Study of Child Care and Youth Development (US) and that National Evaluation of Sure Start (UK). He is the author of more than 300 scientific articles and chapters and the author/editor of several books, including most recently The National Evaluation of Sure Start: Does Area-Based Early Intervention Work (The Policy Press, 2007).

Select Publications

Belsky, J. & Shalev, I. (in press). Contextual Adversity, Telomere Erosion, Pubertal Development and Health: Two Models of Accelerated Aging—or One? Development and Psychopathology.

Belsky, J. & M. Pluess, M. (in press). Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), Developmental Psychopathology, 3rd Ed. NY: Wiley.

Belsky, J., Melhuish, E., & Barnes, J. (in press). Sure Start Local Programmes: Area-based, early-preventative intervention in England. In R. Alexander, N. Guterman & S. Alexander (Eds.), Prevention of Child Maltreatment. St. Louis, Missouri: GW Medical Publishing.

Simpson, J. & Belsky, J. (in press). Attachment Theory within a Modern Evolutionary Framework. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment Theory and Research, 3rd Ed. New York: Guilford.

Belsky, J, Ruttle, P.L., Boyce, W.T., Armstrong, J.M., & Essex, M.J. (2015). Early Adversity, Elevated Stress Physiology, Accelerated Sexual Maturation and Poor Health in Female. Developmental Psychology, 51, 816-822.

Belsky, J. & van IJzendoorn, M.H. (2015). What works for whom? Genetic moderation of intervention efficacy. Development and Psychopathology, 27, 1-6.

Hartman, S., Widaman, K.F., & Belsky, J. (2015). Genetic moderation of effects of maternal sensitivity on girls age of menarche: Replication of Manuck et al. (2011). Development and Psychopathology, 27, 747-756.

Belsky, J. (2014). Toward an evo-devo theory of reproductive strategy, health and longevity. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 9, 16-18.

Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2013). Beyond Risk, Resilience and Dysregulation: Phenotypic Plasticity and Human Development. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 1243-1261.

Belsky, J., Pluess, M., & Widaman, K.F. (2013). Confirmatory and competitive evaluation of alternative gene-environment interaction hypotheses. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 1135-1143.

Belsky J. (2014). Social-contextual determinants of parenting. In R.F. Tremblay, M. Boivin, R.DeV Peters (Eds.). Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development [online], 3rd Ed.. Montreal, Quebec: Centre of Excellence for Early Childhood Development and Strategic Knowledge Cluster on Early Child Development; 2014:1-7. Available at: http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/documents/BelskyANGxp-Parenting.pdf.

Belsky, J., & Pluess, M. (2013). Beyond Risk, Resilience and Dysregulation: Phenotypic Plasticity and Human Development. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 1243-1261.

Pluess, M., & Belsky, J. (2013). Vantage Sensitivity: Individual Differences in Response to Positive Experiences  Psychological Bulletin, 139, 901-916.

Belsky, J., Pluess, M., & Widaman, K.F. (2013). Confirmatory and competitive evaluation of alternative gene-environment interaction hypotheses. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 54, 1135-1143.

Belsky, J., Schlomer, G.L., & Ellis, B.J. (2012). Beyond Cumulative Risk: Distinguishing Harshness and Unpredictability as Determinants of Parenting and Early Life History. Developmental Psychology, 48, 662-673.

Belsky, J. (2012). The Development of Human Reproductive Strategies: Progress and Prospects. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 310-316.

PhD

Ph.D., Human Development and Family Studies. Cornell University.

Masters

M.S., Child Development. Cornell University.

Bachelors

B.A. Vassar College.