Figure 1.

On the left are some of the factors that affect physical and mental functioning to the right. In between are two distinct areas. The box at the bottom suggests some of the processes that mediate the effects of the factors on the left as they affect health outcomes. The figure in the middle is the caretaker offspring interactive system that in humans and many other mammals regulates the state of the infant. In this model the caretaker-offspring system can either buffer the offspring from the effects of factors on the left or transduce the effects of those factors to the offspring.