Background: Most gene-environment interaction (GXE) research, though based on clear, vulnerability-oriented hypotheses, is carried out using exploratory rather than hypothesis-informed statistical tests, limiting power and making formal evaluation of competing GXE propositions difficult. Method: We present and illustrate a new regression technique…

Drawing on life history theory, Ellis and associates' (2009) recent across- and within-species analysis of ecological effects on reproductive development highlighted two fundamental dimensions of environmental variation and influence: harshness and unpredictability. To evaluate the unique contributions of these factors, the authors of present…

After questioning the practical significance of evidence that parenting influences brain development--while highlighting the scientific importance of such work for understanding "how" family experience shapes human development--this paper reviews evidence suggesting that brain structure and function are "chiselled" by parenting. Although the…

This study examined early observed parenting and child-care experiences in relation to functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis over the long term. Consistent with the attenuation hypothesis, individuals (n = 863) who experienced: (a) higher levels of maternal insensitivity and (b) more time in child-care centers in the first…

Research on differential susceptibility to rearing suggests that infants with difficult temperaments are disproportionately affected by parenting and child care quality, but a major U.S. child care study raises questions as to whether quality of care influences social adjustment. One thousand three hundred sixty-four American children from…

Background: Inconsistencies regarding developmental effects of non-maternal childcare may be caused by neglecting the possibility that children are differentially susceptible towards such experiences. Method: Interactions between difficult/negative child temperament and childcare type, quantity, and quality on teacher-rated behavior problems and…

Evolutionary-biological reasoning suggests that individuals should be differentially susceptible to environmental influences, with some people being not just more vulnerable than others to the negative effects of adversity, as the prevailing diathesis-stress view of psychopathology (and of many environmental influences) maintains, but also…

Background: An area-based initiative, Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), was established by the UK government to reduce social exclusion through improving the well-being of children aged 0-3 years and their families in disadvantaged communities; a true community intervention in that all children under four and their families in specified areas…

Two general evolutionary hypotheses were tested on 756 White children (397 girls) studied longitudinally: (1) rearing experiences would predict pubertal timing; and (2) children would prove differentially susceptible to rearing. Analysis of pubertal measurements, including some based on repeated physical assessments, showed that mothering and…

Responds to Maccoby's and Hinde's commentaries on the Belsky, et al. article in this issue. Highlights several points of concurrence and disagreement. Draws attention to the potential benefits of asking questions about proximal and ultimate causation simultaneously and, thus, the need for child developmentalists to think about both the how and why…

More than 200 New Zealand men and women studied repeatedly since age 3 were videotaped interacting with their own 3-year-old children to determine (a) whether childrearing and family climate experienced in 3 distinct developmental periods while growing up (i.e., early childhood, middle childhood, early adolescence) predicted parenting and (b)…

Reviews three aspects of literature on parental and nonparental child care pertaining to socioemotional development during infancy, preschool, and school-age years: (1) determinants of parenting and factors influencing parental behavior and parent-child interactions; (2) link between parent-child interactions and child development; and (3) effects…

This paper argues that researchers should not investigate child development simply through studies of the child alone or mother-infant interactions, but rather through studies of the family as a system. Data is reported which seem to support this view. A review of recent literature indicates that an adequate account of child development requires…