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Cited by 1,515Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentChild Abuse and TraumaAttachment and Relationship Dynamics

For Better and For Worse: Differential Susceptibility to Environmental Influences

Belsky, Jay, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Marian J., van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.·2007·Current Directions in Psychological Science
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00525.x
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Abstract

Evidence that adverse rearing environments exert negative effects particularly on children presumed “vulnerable” for temperamental or genetic reasons may actually reflect something else: heightened susceptibility to the negative effects of risky environments and to the beneficial effects of supportive environments. Building on Belsky's (1997 , 2005 ) evolutionary-inspired proposition that some children are more affected—both for better and for worse—by their rearing experiences than are others, we consider recent work on child vulnerability, including that involving measured genes, along with evidence showing that putatively vulnerable children are especially susceptible to both positive and negative rearing effects. We also consider methodological issues and unanswered questions in the differential-susceptibility equation.

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Crossref · 10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00525.x

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  • Not every child is equally affected by early adverse influences in the family.

    “Nonetheless, these findings are insufficient to account for the observation that not every child is equally affected by early adverse influences in the family (Belsky, BakermansKranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2007; Gordis, Feres, et al., 2010).”

    From A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE TO INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH (2014) · cites this paper as Belsky, BakermansKranenburg, & van IJzendoorn, 2007

  • Environmental factors seem to modulate the specific relationship between physiological activity patterns and health outcomes.

    “environmental factors seem to modulate the specific relationship between physiological activity patterns and health outcomes”

    From A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON THE IMPACT OF EXPOSURE TO INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH (2014) · cites this paper as Belsky et al., 2007

  • Children differ in their susceptibility to environmental influence in a for-better-and-for-worse manner.

    “children differed in their susceptibility to environmental influence in a “for better and for worse” manner”

    From The Adaptive Calibration Model of stress responsivity (2011) · cites this paper as Belsky et al., 2007

  • The relation between reactivity and quality of early experience is described by the theory of differential susceptibility to rearing influence.

    “In the developmental psychology literature, this general relation between reactivity and the quality of early experience is described in the theory of differential susceptibility to rearing influence (Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van Ijzendoorn, 2007).”

    From Stress and the development of self-regulation in context (2010) · cites this paper as Belsky, Bakermans-Kranenburg, & van Ijzendoorn, 2007

  • This finding implies a genetically encoded differential sensitivity to the environment using telomere length as the biomarker.

    “This finding implies a genetically encoded differential sensitivity to the environment using TL as the biomarker (13-15).”

    From Social disadvantage, genetic sensitivity, and children's telomere length (2014) · cites this paper as [13]

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Authors
Belsky, J., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & van IJzendoorn, M. H.
Affiliations
  • Birkbeck, University of London (GB)
  • Centre for Child and Family Studies, Leiden University, the Netherlands
Corresponding author
Belsky, Jay
ORCID
Belsky, Jay
Venue
Current Directions in Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2007-12
Volume
16
Issue
6
Pages
300-304
ISSN
  • 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-8721
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00525.x
OpenAlex
W2138028266
Cited by
1,515
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 47 · 2025: 69 · 2024: 83 · 2023: 62 · 2022: 67 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 162 · 2019: 89 · 2018: 89 · 2017: 89 · 2016: 112 · 2015: 123 · 2014: 82 · 2013: 93 · 2012: 87
FWCI
37.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
Keywords
differential susceptibility theory, child vulnerability, rearing conditions, temperament, genetic susceptibility, gene-environment interaction, sensitive period, evolutionary psychology, child development

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