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Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development pp 502–503Cite as

Diathesis-stress Model

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Synonyms

Gene–environment interaction; Stress-diathesis model; Stress-vulnerability model

Definition

The diathesis-stress model describes a resulting interaction of genetic vulnerabilities and environmental stress on a person’s physical and mental health.

Description

The diathesis-stress model describes how genetic or biological factors interact with environmental stress which results in a disorder or condition. Specifically, this theory purports that an individual’s biological vulnerabilities, or predispositions, to particular psychological disorders can be triggered by stressful life events. If the individual is resilient or has low biological vulnerability for a particular disorder, it would take extremely high levels of stress to trigger symptoms of that disorder. On the other hand, if the individual has high biological vulnerability to the disorder, then it would take lower levels of stress for symptoms to be exhibited. Until this critical level of stress is reached, the...

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  • DOI: 10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_845
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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Educational Psychology and Special Education, Michigan State University, 435 Erickson Hall, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Anisa N. Goforth, Andy V. Pham & John S. Carlson

Authors
  1. Anisa N. Goforth
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  2. Andy V. Pham
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  3. John S. Carlson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center, 230 South 500 East, Suite 100, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84102, USA

    Sam Goldstein Ph.D.

  2. Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology MS 2C6, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Jack A. Naglieri Ph.D.

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Goforth, A.N., Pham, A.V., Carlson, J.S. (2011). Diathesis-stress Model. In: Goldstein, S., Naglieri, J.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Child Behavior and Development. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_845

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