The dominant approach to research in this field starts out from the assumption that (the care needs or
daily hassles associated with caring for) the child with ID is a «stressor», defined as a threat, challenge or demand that taxes or exceeds an individual's capacity to adapt [1].
Indeed, and consistent with the differential - susceptibility hypothesis, more
daily hassles were
associated with less sensitive parenting, whereas lower levels of
daily hassles were
associated with more sensitive parenting, but only among such parents, not those who did not fit this genetic profile.45 One implication of this observation and differential - susceptibility thinking more generally is that evidence cited highlighting effects of child behaviour and marital / partner relationships on parenting likely over - and under - estimates such effects, as it fails to take into consideration variation in susceptibility on the part of parents.