An Evolutionary Perspective on Family Studies: Differential Susceptibility to Environmental Influences

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12161
• Date: 01 December 2016
• Author: Sarah Hartman,Jay Belsky
• Published date: 01 December 2016

An Evolutionary Perspective on Family Studies:

Differential Susceptibility to Environmental

Influences

SARAH HARTMAN*

JAY BELSKY*

An evolutionary perspective of human development provides the basis for the differ-

ential-susceptibility hypothesis which stipulates that individuals should differ in their

susceptibility to environmental influences, with some being more affected than others

by both positive and negative developmental experiences and environmental exposures.

This paper reviews evidence consistent with this claim while revealing tha t tempera-

mental and genetic characteristics play a role in distinguishing more and less suscep-

tible individuals. The differential-susceptibility framework under consideration is

contrasted to the traditional diathesis-stress view that “vulnerability” traits predispose

some to being disproportionately affected by (only) adverse experiences. We raise sev-

eral issues stimulated by the literature that need to be clarified in further research.

Lastly, we suggest that therapy may differ in its effects depending on an individual’s

susceptibility.

Keywords: Differential susceptibility; Gene–environment interaction; Diathesis stress

Fam Proc 55:700–712, 2016

INTRODUCTION

Individual differences in sensitivity to the environment—or susceptibility to environ-

mental influences—have long been recognized, especially in research considering con-

textual risk and resilience. Decades of theory and research support the claim that some

individuals are more adversely affected than others by negative developmental experi-

ences and environmental exposures—like marital discord and child maltreatment—

whereas others prove relatively immune to or resilient in the face of such adversity. In the

case of children, then, some prove more developmentally “plastic” or malleable, tending to

be more affected by their experiences and exposures than other, less plastic or mallea ble

age mates. Recent evolutionary inspired thinking calls attention, however, to the fact that

those very characteristics that appear to make children—and adults—more vulnerable to

adversity also make them more likely to benefit from support and enrichment. In other

words, some are more affected “for better and for worse” than are others. Clinicians no

doubt encounter variation in patients’ response to therapy, with some clients benefiting

substantially and others not at all. In this article, we consider theory and research on

person-X-environment and gene-X-environment interaction studies consistent with the

claims just advanced.

*Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, CA.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sarah Hartman, Department of Human

Ecology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616. E-mail: slhartman@ucdavis.edu

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Family Process, Vol. 55, No. 4, 2016 ©2015 Family Process Institute

doi: 10.1111/famp.12161