Just over ten years ago, a fascinating journal article argued that some children are like orchids – they don’t just wither in response to a harsh upbringing, they also flourish in a positive environment, unlike their “dandelion” peers who are less affected either way. Since then, research into this concept has exploded. A new meta-analysis in Psychological Bulletin usefully gathers all that we know so far about one key aspect of this – the associations between children’s temperament (the forerunner to adult personality) and the way they respond to different parenting styles. The results suggest that those with a particular kind of highly emotional temperament are more likely to match the description of an orchid child*.
就在十多年前，一篇引人入胜的期刊文章认为，有些孩子就像兰花一样，它们不仅对严酷的教养作出枯萎的反应，它们也在一个积极的环境中生长，他们不像同龄的“蒲公英”那样，很少受到以上的两种情况的影响。从那时起，对此概念的研究就已经爆炸了。新发表在《心理学公报》元分析有效地收集了到目前为止所有我们知道的一个关键方面——儿童气质（成人人格的前身）与他们应对不同养育方式之间的联系。结果表明，那些具有高情绪化气质的特殊人群更可能符合兰花孩子的描述【*】。
Meike Slagt and her colleagues surveyed all the relevant research published prior to 2015 into the interactions between children’s temperament, parenting styles and various developmental outcomes, from behavioral problems to school performance. They found 84 relevant studies – half of them published since 2010 – involving tens of thousands of children.
Meike Slagt和她的同事们调查了在2015之前发表的所有相关研究，他们调查了这些研究中的儿童气质、父母教养方式和不同的发展结果之间的相互作用，从行为的问题到学校的表现。他们找到了84项相关研究——其中一半是2010年后出版的——涉及了成千上万的儿童。
In theory, there are three main ways that child temperament could interact with parenting style, and the researchers were particularly concerned with finding out which was best supported by the available data.
从理论上讲，儿童气质与父母教养方式的交互作用主要有三种方式，研究者们特别关注的是，通过现有的数据找到那些最佳支持的方法。
It’s possible that some children are especially vulnerable to a harsh upbringing (cold and authoritarian), but no more or less affected by a positive upbringing (warm and authoritative). Alternatively, in line with the orchid concept, some children could be extra sensitive to bad and good parenting. Finally, it may be that there are some children with a particular temperament who especially benefit from a positive upbringing, but who are no more or less vulnerable to a negative upbringing.
可能有些孩子特别容易受到严厉教养（冷漠和专制）的伤害，但或多或少受到积极教养的影响（热情和权威）。另外，与兰花概念相一致，一些孩子可能对坏的或好的养育额外敏感。最后，有一些孩子可能有一种特殊的气质，他们格外受益于积极的教养，但他们容易受到负面养育的影响。
In fact, the data supported the orchid concept. Some children with a certain temperament seem to be especially sensitive to both bad and good parenting, suffering more when things are harsh, but also thriving more than usual in a positive environment. These children seemed to gain as much from a positive upbringing as they suffered from a bad one.
事实上，数据支持兰花的概念。有着一定气质的部分孩子似乎对坏的和好的父母都特别敏感，当事情严厉的时候，他们受苦更多，但在积极的环境中，他们也比平时更加活跃。这些孩子似乎从一个积极的养育中得到了很多，同样，他们在坏的养育中受苦。
What kind of temperament do these children have? Child temperament is usually rated according to negative emotionality (similar to adult neuroticism, for example showing more fear and irritability), surgency (a little like adult extraversion – imagine an outgoing child who enjoys trying out new activities), and effortful control (similar to adult conscientiousness).
这些孩子有什么样的气质？儿童气质通常是根据负面情绪（类似于成人的神经质，例如表现出更多的恐惧和烦躁）、外向性（有点像成人外倾性——想象一个喜欢尝试新活动的外向孩子）、以及主动控制（类似于成人的尽责性）评定的。
The meta-analysis found that children with high negative emotionality, though only when measured in infancy, not later in childhood, were especially likely to be more sensitive to parenting style, good or bad. There was also some evidence that children with a generally more “difficult” temperament (based on negative emotionality and certain aspects of surgency and effortful control), whether measured in infancy or later childhood, were also more sensitive to good and bad parenting.
元分析发现，高负面情绪的孩子，虽然只在婴儿期测量，不迟于儿童期，他们尤其容易对父母养育方式敏感，好的也是坏的也如此。也有一些证据表明，有着更普遍的“难以相处”气质的儿童（基于负面的情绪以及外向性和主动控制的某些方面），无论是在婴儿期或之后的儿童期，他们也更敏感于好的或坏的养育。
The intriguing take-home message according to the researchers is that “the very quality that appears to be a frailty in [some] children may also be their strength, given a supportive parenting context”.
据研究者们说， 来自家庭的有趣消息是“好的品质是，似乎[一些]虚弱的孩子也可能是他们的力量，给予了支持性的养育环境”。
This meta-analysis provides a useful overview, including raising issues with the current evidence. For instance, for obvious ethical reasons, we don’t have evidence showing the same child suffering more in a harsh environment, but thriving especially well in a positive one, which would provide more compelling evidence for the orchid concept (than what we have now – which is contrasts of the experiences of different emotionally sensitive children in different environments). Perhaps carefully designed “micro-interventions” could plug this gap, by testing the effects of brief positive and negative experiences on the same children.
这个元分析提供了一个有用的概览，包括提升目前证据的问题。例如，由于明显的伦理原因，我们没有证据显示相同的孩子在严酷的环境中受苦更多，但是他们在积极的环境中成长的更好，这些会对兰花的概念提供更多令人信服的证据（比我们现在——与不同的环境中不同的情绪敏感的孩子的经验相对比）。也许精心设计的“微干预”可以填补这一缺口，通过测试同一个孩子对于短暂的正面与负面体验的努力。
Also, and as the researchers explain, there is much more we don’t yet know. For example, is the trait of negative emotionality a cause or a consequence (or just a marker) of sensitivity to parenting? Meanwhile, other research has documented children with certaingenetic variantswho are more likely to show signs of sensitivity to parenting, but it’s not clear how this fits with the temperament research. In fact, some of the genetic variants linked with greater sensitivity are also associated with less negative emotionality. It’s going to take a good deal more clever research to disentangle the complex dynamics between children’s genes, temperament and sensitivity.
而且，正如研究人员所解释的，还有很多我们未知的部分。例如，负面情绪特质对于敏感养育而言，是原因还是结果（或只是一个标记）？同时，其他的研究已经证明一些具有遗传变异体的孩子更容易表现出对父母的敏感性，但目前尚不清楚这与气质研究如何相适应。事实上，一些与更大的敏感性相关遗传变异也和有较少的负面情绪相关。这需要更多研究以解开孩子的基因、情绪和敏感性之间的复杂动力学。
*Note, the authors of the meta-analysis do not use the orchid/dandelion terminology.
*注意，meta分析的作者不使用兰花/蒲公英术语。
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—Differences in sensitivity to parenting depending on child temperament: A meta-analysis.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16761546
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