Patricia M. Crittenden studied under Mary. D. Ainsworth from
1978 until 1983, when she received her Ph.D. as a
psychologist in the Social Ecology and Development Program
at the University of Virginia.
In addition to Mary Ainsworth's constant guidance and
support, her psychology master's thesis, on the CARE-Index,
was developed in consultation with John Bowlby and her
family systems research, on patterns of family functioning
in maltreating families, was accomplished with guidance from
E. Mavis Hetherington. She also holds a Master's Degree in
Special Education, with specializations in mental
retardation and emotional disturbance (University of
Virginia, 1969.)
Career
highlights
Dr. Patricia Crittenden has served on the Faculties of
Psychology at the Universities of Virginia and Miami and
held visiting professorships at the Universities of Helsinki
(Finland) and Bologna (Italy) as well as San Diego State
University (USA) and Edith Cowan University (Australia).
In 1992 she received a Senior Post-doctoral Fellowship,
with a focus on child sexual abuse and the development of
individual differences in human sexuality, at the Family
Research Laboratory, University of New Hampshire. In 1993-4
she was awarded the Beverley Professorship at the Clark
Institute of Psychiatry (Canada).
In the last two decades, Dr. Patricia Crittenden has
worked cross-culturally as a developmental psychopathologist
developing the Dynamic-Maturational Model (DMM) of
attachment and adaptation, along with a developmentally
attuned, life-span set of procedures for assessing
self-protective strategies. DMM-based theory and empirical
research authored by Dr. Patricia Crittenden have been
widely published as books, chapters in books, and empirical
articles in developmental and clinical journals.
In 2004, Dr. Patricia Crittenden received a career
achievement award for
"Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Child and Family
Development" from the European Family Therapy
Association in Berlin.
Currently, Dr. Patricia Crittenden's work is focused on
preventive and culture-sensitive applications of the DMM to
mental health treatment, child protection, and criminal
rehabilitation