Environmental Factors

Growth is a product of continuous and complex interaction of heredity and environment. A considerable proportion of the mean differences in body size between the populations being observed are due to the effects of environmental conditions. Some of the differences between individuals within populations are also due to differences in environment. In the better-off populations of

industrialised countries these differences are relatively small, while in developing countries the gap between well-off and poor is greater. A child may receive numerous insults (diet low in calories or proteins) during growth and yet survive, but bodily adaptations for survival are made which may result in smaller body size. When environmental conditions improve the size of child also improves. Many environmental factors influence rate of growth but most of them hinge upon the level of nutrition besides infections from disease, socio-economic level and family size, urbanization, climate and seasonal effects and psychosocial stress.