Interactions between infant characteristics and parenting factors rarely replicate across cohorts and developmental domains

Robert Eves, Finiki Nearchou, Dieter Wolke, Michael Pluess, Sakari Lemola

First published: 10 March 2025

https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14149

A new study led by Dr Robert Eves, Honorary Research Fellow and Prof. Dieter Wolke from Warwick and colleagues from the Universities of Bielefeld, Surrey and University College Dublin investigated how infant characteristics (temperament, birthweight) and parenting affect later developmental outcome such as IQ and mental health. Various developmental models have been put forward how infant characteristics and parenting may affect outcome ranging from various interactive models (diathesis-stress, differential susceptibility or vantage sensitive) or are they simply additive effects?

Our investigation utilising four cohort studies in four countries incorporating over 30.000 children and their parents found that a simple additive model of infant characteristics and parenting predicted most outcomes (10/16 analyses) followed by diathesis stress (4/16) and vantage sensitivity (2/16). No evidence for differential susceptibility was found.

To conclude, developmental outcomes are more consistently explained by additive effects rather than by interaction effects. Simple is beautiful!

Professor Dieter Wolke and the Warwick Lifecourse and Neonatal Group congratulate Dr Yanlin Zhou from the R2D2-MH project on the award of an MSCA fellowship working with Dr Beate St Pourcain at the Max Plank Institute of Psycholinguistics on a 2 year project investigating the Genomic and Environmental factors of Resilience to Early-life stress.

Dieter Wolke's evidence is mentioned at several places on how prematurity creates inequality in developmental outcome and how to improve transition into school.

Interviewed and written by Amanda Ruggeri for BBC Future 

Need a good night's sleep? Try changing how you think about it - BBC Future