Orchid or dandelion? Highly sensitive or relatively robust? These are some of the ways that we have conceptualized the concept of how sensitive a child is to the environment in which they are raised. Through a combination of nature and nurture, some of our kids are just that much more sensitive. But are they sensitive their whole lives? What genetics make this happen? What environments are good or bad? None of it is quite as simple as it may sound which is why I'm so excited to have one of the pioneers in this field joining me to talk about his decades of work on this sensitivity to the environment, or differential susceptibility as he has called it. Dr. Jay Belsky is one of the first to have identified this differential susceptibility and has helped lead all of us - parents, educators, and researchers alike - towards a better understanding of how nuanced this issue is. And why so much more is still left to be done.

Dr. Jay Belsky: https://humandevelopment.ucdavis.edu/people/jay-belsky

Articles of Interest:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/beyond-orchids-and-dandelions-susceptibility-to-environmental-influences-is-not-bimodal/4ADAF88C7F63FF2C2CDE99880943C3B7

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-29903-001

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-022-01574-9

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/differential-susceptibility-20-are-the-same-children-affected-by-different-experiences-and-exposures/277792E67173ED12678A0180A5FD6892

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/development-and-psychopathology/article/abs/distinguishing-differential-susceptibility-diathesisstress-and-vantage-sensitivity-beyond-the-single-gene-and-environment-model/C2CFEBE39AFEA4C2FC29BA3F37895A41

'The Origins of You: How Childhood Shapes Later Life': https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674983458