Do children grow like dandelions or orchids?

• Position: YOUR LIFE - Effect of family life on child development

For many young children, a stable family life is one key factor to avoiding a number of serious health problems. Bruce Ellis, professor of family studies and human development at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and his colleagues found that those who grow up in supportive families are more likely to delay puberty, but only if they "are biologically sensitive to context."

"Orchid children," as Ellis calls them, are predisposed to be more susceptible to their environments, for better or worse. "Most children survive and even thrive in whatever circumstances they encounter, like dandelions. Nurtured with quality parenting and programs, orchid children can blossom spectacularly into society's happiest, most productive people. Conversely, given poor parenting and sketchy surroundings, they are at greater risk to end up wrestling with depression, substance abuse issues, and even jail."

Ellis finds that orchid children who have higher quality parent-child relationships start puberty later and go through puberty more slowly, in contrast, lower quality parent-child relationships forecast the opposite pattern. What also emerges from...