| Label |
Element |
Value |
| Quality Bond Portfolio |
|
|
| Risk/Return: |
rr_RiskReturnAbstract |
|
| Risk/Return [Heading] |
rr_RiskReturnHeading |
Fund Summary
|
| Objective [Heading] |
rr_ObjectiveHeading |
Investment Objective
|
| Objective, Primary [Text Block] |
rr_ObjectivePrimaryTextBlock |
The fund seeks to maximize total return, consisting of capital appreciation and current income.
|
| Expense [Heading] |
rr_ExpenseHeading |
Fees and Expenses
|
| Expense Narrative [Text Block] |
rr_ExpenseNarrativeTextBlock |
This table describes the fees and expenses that you may pay if you buy and hold shares of the fund. These figures do not reflect any fees or charges imposed by participating insurance companies under their Variable Annuity contracts (VA contracts) or Variable Life Insurance policies (VLI policies), and if such fees and/or charges were included, the fees and expenses would be higher.
|
| Operating Expenses Caption [Text] |
rr_OperatingExpensesCaption |
Annual Fund Operating Expenses (expenses that you pay each year as a percentage of the value of your investment)
|
| Portfolio Turnover [Heading] |
rr_PortfolioTurnoverHeading |
Portfolio Turnover
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| Portfolio Turnover [Text Block] |
rr_PortfolioTurnoverTextBlock |
The fund pays transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover may indicate higher transaction costs. These costs, which are not reflected in annual fund operating expenses or in the Example, affect the fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the fund's portfolio turnover rate was 161.74% of the average value of its portfolio.
|
| Portfolio Turnover, Rate |
rr_PortfolioTurnoverRate |
161.74%
|
| Expense Example [Heading] |
rr_ExpenseExampleHeading |
Example
|
| Expense Example Narrative [Text Block] |
rr_ExpenseExampleNarrativeTextBlock |
The Example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in the fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the fund for the time periods indicated and then hold or redeem all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the fund's operating expenses remain the same. The Example does not reflect fees and expenses incurred under VA contracts and VLI policies; if they were reflected, the figures in the Example would be higher. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:
|
| Strategy [Heading] |
rr_StrategyHeading |
Principal Investment Strategy
|
| Strategy Narrative [Text Block] |
rr_StrategyNarrativeTextBlock |
To pursue its goal, the fund normally invests at least 80% of its net assets, plus any borrowings for investment purposes, in bonds. The fund's investments include corporate bonds, debentures, notes, mortgage-related securities, collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), asset-backed securities, convertible debt obligations, preferred stocks, convertible preferred stocks, municipal obligations and zero coupon bonds, that, when purchased, typically are rated A or better or are the unrated equivalent as determined by The Dreyfus Corporation, and securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities, including Treasury inflation-protection securities (TIPS).
The fund may invest up to 10% of its net assets in bonds issued by foreign issuers that are denominated in foreign currencies, and up to 20% of its net assets in bonds issued by foreign issuers whether denominated in U.S. dollars or in a foreign currency.
The fund has no limit with respect to its portfolio maturity or duration. A bond's maturity is the length of time until the principal must be fully repaid with interest. Average effective portfolio maturity is an average of the maturities of bonds held by the fund directly and the bonds underlying derivative instruments entered into by the fund, if any, adjusted to reflect provisions or market conditions that may cause a bond's principal to be repaid earlier than at its stated maturity. Duration is an indication of an investment's "interest rate risk," or how sensitive a bond or the fund's portfolio may be to changes in interest rates. Generally, the longer a bond's duration, the more likely it is to react to interest rate fluctuations and the greater its long-term risk/return potential.
|
| Risk [Heading] |
rr_RiskHeading |
Principal Risks
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| Risk Narrative [Text Block] |
rr_RiskNarrativeTextBlock |
An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit. It is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency. It is not a complete investment program. The fund's share price fluctuates, sometimes dramatically, which means you could lose money.
· Fixed-income market risk. The market value of a fixed-income security may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse economic conditions, changes in the outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates or adverse investor sentiment generally. The fixed-income securities market can be susceptible to increases in volatility and decreases in liquidity. Liquidity can decline unpredictably in response to overall economic conditions or credit tightening. Increases in volatility and decreases in liquidity may be caused by a rise in interest rates (or the expectation of a rise in interest rates), which currently are at or near historic lows in the United States and in other countries. An unexpected increase in fund redemption requests, including requests from shareholders who may own a significant percentage of the fund's shares, which may be triggered by market turmoil or an increase in interest rates, could cause the fund to sell its holdings at a loss or at undesirable prices and adversely affect the fund's share price and increase the fund's liquidity risk, fund expenses and/or taxable distributions.
· Interest rate risk. Prices of bonds and other fixed rate fixed-income securities tend to move inversely with changes in interest rates. Typically, a rise in rates will adversely affect fixed-income securities and, accordingly, will cause the value of the fund's investments in these securities to decline. During periods of very low interest rates, which occur from time to time due to market forces or actions of governments and/or their central banks, including the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in the U.S., the fund may be subject to a greater risk of principal decline from rising interest rates. When interest rates fall, the fund's investments in new securities may be at lower yields and may reduce the fund's income. The magnitude of these fluctuations in the market price of fixed-income securities is generally greater for securities with longer effective maturities and durations because such instruments do not mature, reset interest rates or become callable for longer periods of time. The change in the value of a fixed-income security or portfolio can be approximated by multiplying its duration by a change in interest rates. For example, the market price of a fixed-income security with a duration of three years would be expected to decline 3% if interest rates rose 1%. Conversely, the market price of the same security would be expected to increase 3% if interest rates fell 1%. Interest rate changes may have different effects on the values of mortgage-related securities because of prepayment and extension risks. Risks associated with rising interest rates are heightened given that interest rates in the United States and other countries currently are at or near historic lows. The Federal Reserve has raised the federal funds rate several times in recent periods and has signaled additional increases in the near future.
· Credit risk. Failure of an issuer of a security to make timely interest or principal payments when due, or a decline or perception of a decline in the credit quality of the security, can cause the security's price to fall. The lower a security's credit rating, the greater the chance that the issuer of the security will default or fail to meet its payment obligations.
· Liquidity risk. When there is little or no active trading market for specific types of securities, it can become more difficult to sell the securities in a timely manner at or near their perceived value. In such a market, the value of such securities and the fund's share price may fall dramatically, even during periods of declining interest rates. The secondary market for certain municipal bonds tends to be less well developed or liquid than many other securities markets, which may adversely affect the fund's ability to sell such municipal bonds at attractive prices. Investments that are illiquid or that trade in lower volumes may be more difficult to value. Investments in foreign securities tend to have greater exposure to liquidity risk than domestic securities. Liquidity risk also may refer to the risk that the fund will not be able to pay redemption proceeds within the allowable time period stated in this prospectus because of unusual market conditions, an unusually high volume of redemption requests, or other reasons. To meet redemption requests, the fund may be forced to sell securities at an unfavorable time and/or under unfavorable conditions, which may adversely affect the fund's share price.
· Mortgage-related securities risk. Mortgage-related securities are complex derivative instruments, subject to credit, prepayment and extension risk, and may be more volatile, less liquid and more difficult to price accurately than more traditional debt securities. The fund is subject to the credit risk associated with these securities, including the market's perception of the creditworthiness of the issuing federal agency, as well as the credit quality of the underlying assets. Although certain mortgage-related securities are guaranteed as to the timely payment of interest and principal by a third party (such as a U.S. government agency or instrumentality with respect to government-related mortgage-backed securities) the market prices for such securities are not guaranteed and will fluctuate. Declining interest rates may result in the prepayment of higher yielding underlying mortgages and the reinvestment of proceeds at lower interest rates can reduce the fund's potential price gain in response to falling interest rates, reduce the fund's yield and/or cause the fund's share price to fall (prepayment risk). Rising interest rates may result in a drop in prepayments of the underlying mortgages, which would increase the fund's sensitivity to rising interest rates and its potential for price declines (extension risk).
· Municipal securities risk. The amount of public information available about municipal securities is generally less than that for corporate equities or bonds. Special factors, such as legislative changes, and state and local economic and business developments, may adversely affect the yield and/or value of the fund's investments in municipal securities. Other factors include the general conditions of the municipal securities market, the size of the particular offering, the maturity of the obligation and the rating of the issue. Changes in economic, business or political conditions relating to a particular municipal project, municipality, or state, territory or possession of the United States in which the fund invests may have an impact on the fund's share price.
· Government securities risk. Not all obligations of the U.S. government, its agencies and instrumentalities are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury. Some obligations are backed only by the credit of the issuing agency or instrumentality, and in some cases there may be some risk of default by the issuer. Any guarantee by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities of a security held by the fund does not apply to the market value of such security or to shares of the fund itself. A security backed by the U.S. Treasury or the full faith and credit of the United States is guaranteed only as to the timely payment of interest and principal when held to maturity.
· Foreign investment risk. To the extent the fund invests in foreign securities, the fund's performance will be influenced by political, social and economic factors affecting investments in foreign issuers. Special risks associated with investments in foreign issuers include exposure to currency fluctuations, less liquidity, less developed or less efficient trading markets, lack of comprehensive company information, political and economic instability and differing auditing and legal standards. Investments denominated in foreign currencies are subject to the risk that such currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar and affect the value of these investments held by the fund.
· Issuer risk. A security's market value may decline for a number of reasons which directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance, financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer's products or services, or factors that affect the issuer's industry, such as labor shortages or increased production costs and competitive conditions within an industry.
· Portfolio turnover risk. The fund may engage in short-term trading, which could produce higher transaction costs. The fund's forward roll transactions will increase its portfolio turnover rate.
|
| Risk Lose Money [Text] |
rr_RiskLoseMoney |
The fund's share price fluctuates, sometimes dramatically, which means you could lose money.
|
| Risk Not Insured Depository Institution [Text] |
rr_RiskNotInsuredDepositoryInstitution |
An investment in the fund is not a bank deposit. It is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) or any other government agency.
|
| Bar Chart and Performance Table [Heading] |
rr_BarChartAndPerformanceTableHeading |
Performance
|
| Performance Narrative [Text Block] |
rr_PerformanceNarrativeTextBlock |
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund. The bar chart shows changes in the performance of the fund's Initial shares from year to year. The table compares the average annual total returns of the fund's shares to those of a broad measure of market performance. The fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future. More recent performance information may be available at www.dreyfus.com.
Performance information reflects the fund's expenses only and does not reflect the fees and charges imposed by participating insurance companies under their VA contracts or VLI policies. Because these fees and charges will reduce total return, policyowners should consider them when evaluating and comparing the fund's performance. Policyowners should consult the prospectus for their contract or policy for more information.
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| Performance Information Illustrates Variability of Returns [Text] |
rr_PerformanceInformationIllustratesVariabilityOfReturns |
The following bar chart and table provide some indication of the risks of investing in the fund.
|
| Performance Availability Website Address [Text] |
rr_PerformanceAvailabilityWebSiteAddress |
www.dreyfus.com
|
| Performance Past Does Not Indicate Future [Text] |
rr_PerformancePastDoesNotIndicateFuture |
The fund's past performance is not necessarily an indication of how the fund will perform in the future.
|
| Bar Chart [Heading] |
rr_BarChartHeading |
Year-by-Year Total Returns as of 12/31 each year (%) Initial Shares
|
| Bar Chart Does Not Reflect Sales Loads [Text] |
rr_BarChartDoesNotReflectSalesLoads |
Performance information reflects the fund's expenses only and does not reflect the fees and charges imposed by participating insurance companies under their VA contracts or VLI policies.
|
| Bar Chart Closing [Text Block] |
rr_BarChartClosingTextBlock |
Best Quarter
Q3, 2009: 7.32% Worst Quarter
Q4, 2016: -3.24%
|
| Highest Quarterly Return, Label |
rr_HighestQuarterlyReturnLabel |
Best Quarter
|
| Highest Quarterly Return, Date |
rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturnDate |
Sep. 30, 2009
|
| Highest Quarterly Return |
rr_BarChartHighestQuarterlyReturn |
7.32%
|
| Lowest Quarterly Return, Label |
rr_LowestQuarterlyReturnLabel |
Worst Quarter
|
| Lowest Quarterly Return, Date |
rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturnDate |
Dec. 31, 2016
|
| Lowest Quarterly Return |
rr_BarChartLowestQuarterlyReturn |
(3.24%)
|
| Index No Deduction for Fees, Expenses, Taxes [Text] |
rr_IndexNoDeductionForFeesExpensesTaxes |
reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes
|
| Caption |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnCaption |
Average Annual Total Returns (as of 12/31/17)
|
| Quality Bond Portfolio | Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index reflects no deductions for fees, expenses or taxes |
|
|
| Risk/Return: |
rr_RiskReturnAbstract |
|
| Average Annual Returns, 1 Year |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 |
3.54%
|
| Average Annual Returns, 5 Years |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05 |
2.10%
|
| Average Annual Returns, 10 Years |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10 |
4.01%
|
| Quality Bond Portfolio | Quality Bond Portfolio - Initial Shares |
|
|
| Risk/Return: |
rr_RiskReturnAbstract |
|
| Management fees |
rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets |
0.65%
|
| Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees |
rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets |
none
|
| Other expenses |
rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets |
0.33%
|
| Total annual fund operating expenses |
rr_ExpensesOverAssets |
0.98%
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 |
$ 100
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 |
312
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear05 |
542
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear10 |
1,201
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 1 Year |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 |
100
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 3 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 |
312
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 5 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05 |
542
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 10 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10 |
$ 1,201
|
| Annual Return 2008 |
rr_AnnualReturn2008 |
(4.18%)
|
| Annual Return 2009 |
rr_AnnualReturn2009 |
14.96%
|
| Annual Return 2010 |
rr_AnnualReturn2010 |
8.38%
|
| Annual Return 2011 |
rr_AnnualReturn2011 |
7.04%
|
| Annual Return 2012 |
rr_AnnualReturn2012 |
7.00%
|
| Annual Return 2013 |
rr_AnnualReturn2013 |
(1.54%)
|
| Annual Return 2014 |
rr_AnnualReturn2014 |
4.79%
|
| Annual Return 2015 |
rr_AnnualReturn2015 |
(1.65%)
|
| Annual Return 2016 |
rr_AnnualReturn2016 |
1.52%
|
| Annual Return 2017 |
rr_AnnualReturn2017 |
4.50%
|
| Average Annual Returns, 1 Year |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 |
4.50%
|
| Average Annual Returns, 5 Years |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05 |
1.48%
|
| Average Annual Returns, 10 Years |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10 |
3.94%
|
| Quality Bond Portfolio | Quality Bond Portfolio - Service Shares |
|
|
| Risk/Return: |
rr_RiskReturnAbstract |
|
| Management fees |
rr_ManagementFeesOverAssets |
0.65%
|
| Distribution and/or service (12b-1) fees |
rr_DistributionAndService12b1FeesOverAssets |
0.25%
|
| Other expenses |
rr_OtherExpensesOverAssets |
0.33%
|
| Total annual fund operating expenses |
rr_ExpensesOverAssets |
1.23%
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 1 Year |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear01 |
$ 125
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 3 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear03 |
390
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 5 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear05 |
676
|
| Expense Example, with Redemption, 10 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleYear10 |
1,489
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 1 Year |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear01 |
125
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 3 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear03 |
390
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 5 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear05 |
676
|
| Expense Example, No Redemption, 10 Years |
rr_ExpenseExampleNoRedemptionYear10 |
$ 1,489
|
| Average Annual Returns, 1 Year |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear01 |
4.25%
|
| Average Annual Returns, 5 Years |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear05 |
1.24%
|
| Average Annual Returns, 10 Years |
rr_AverageAnnualReturnYear10 |
3.68%
|
