There are four identified factors which are distinct areas these are different ranges which affect the growth and development of the human body these, four distinct areas are social and economic, health, genetics and environment.

The factors of the environment are the way in which we live which has huge affects on our lifestyle and the behavior we act. The outside effects are in some inner cities such as the U.K which has become unpleasant to live in due to the increase of air pollution from vehicle exhausts, factories, littering, tipping, dog fowling etc. Other factors of the environment are poverty and unemployment, poor living conditions for those who are on low incomes, discrimination against ethnic or disabled people is reduced with the introduction of the relevant statutes e.g. improvements in access for people with impaired mobility and equal opportunities for all. The agricultural environment also imposes problems for families which have unemployment or have low incomes so transport and housing will be difficult to secure, radiation from atomic bomb explosions that happened years ago, nuclear power stations and x-rays and also climate changes with this environment lifestyle it will effect the growth and development. Dental and hospital x-rays when pregnant can harm the growth and development of an unborn child. The inside effects on the factors of environment are drugs, alcohol, taking medication during pregnancy, smoking and poor diet. Smoking, drug taking and drinking will damage the insides of the human body because of the substances that are inside these factors. Taking medication when pregnant may harm the baby as well as the mother because during pregnancy the mother does tend to be weaker than normal.

The factors of genetics are that characteristics are passed on from the biological parents to the child these characteristics include the skin, eye and hair color the height of the child and facial features also sometimes the ability to run fast. Illnesses can also be passed on such as cystic fibrosis, haemophilia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, luntingdons cohorea. The tendency towards other conditions like asthma, eczema, diabetes, hearing and visual impairments, glucoma, heart disease or a heart murmur can seem to be inherited.

The factors of health are good health which is a healthy balanced diet which will ensure the growth and development. A large intake food can lead to obesity and a small quantity of food can lead to anorexia these will both affect the growth and development of the human body involving the role of maturation which I have described in P1. Good health such as good speech, eyesight, hearing, keeping fit and a generally good life style will benefit the growth and development that are body’s go through where as bad speech, bad skin, bad hearing, bad eyesight, no exercise, always being ill, not eating properly and inherited disease can have huge affects on the body’s growth and development. Being ill all the time will have huge affects on children later in life as they will be missing a lot of school and therefore all the areas of development are affected, through missing school children will miss opportunities to learn, develop and build on skills that maybe useful later on.

The factors which occur for social and economic growth development are gender, family, education, culture and income. With gender people have different expectations on what girls and boys should and shouldn’t do e.g. people think that only boys should play football. Some males believe that a woman’s place is in the home. In some cultures the boy’s opinions are valued more than the girl’s but the girl’s opinion doesn’t matter. People have different sexualities such as being gay, lesbian and bisexual and some people frown upon this. Family expectations may be set for a child and the child may not like this would mean that a problem would occur in the family and this would cause family arguments. Family arguments are not just about the expectations of the family but many other reasons too e.g. other members of the family having different opinions on a tough situation, this may also cause the family to fall out then other family members who get involved will be seen to be taking sides. Divorced parents may give problems for their offspring because of different routines or maybe the parents talk bad about or to the other parent sometimes in anger. To a child a step family would be a problem because they will be just getting to know this new step parent and the child may become insecure due to them thinking that this step parent is trying to replace their real parent. Parents try to teach their children values and skills also including their beliefs for later on in life this would be the difference between right and wrong, the use of bad/fowl language and the correct way to behave etc. Education in school, on visits or travelling etc, is given to a child will help the child to reach their potential by using an appropriate stimulation, by giving children opportunities and by encouraging a positive self-image. There is a variety of cultures and in these cultures their religious beliefs and their way of life can affect development. Some cultures arrange marriages for their offspring, some cultures forbid eating certain foods and some have a certain dress code and have to cover up most of the body where as others are not about what parts of the body that you can or cannot show. Income plays a big part in every day life this will affect personal development. People who live in poverty and have poor housing and diet because this is all that they can afford are more likely to suffer ill health; these people are unlikely to get involved in leisure activities. People on low income will notice that this has a dramatic affect on day to day life e.g. can not pay for transport, not very well dressed and it’s hard to fund for new clothes and not able to get the latest technology e.g. if a child has homework a computer would help with this especially in high school and collage etc.