What is Growth and Development?

Growth and development are two of the most important factors for people to evaluate during physical examination. In any patient diagnostic workshop, the skills required to evaluate the growth and development of an individual are essential. Development and growth are bound to occur at various stages of the human life cycle in terms of physical growth, intellectual growth, and social and emotional changes. Health professionals use growth and development milestones to judge whether an individual is at par with others at the same age. If someone is not meeting those expectations, then medical attention is required.

Growth

Growth essentially identifies the physical growth and physical changes in an individual in the span of their lifecycle. The height and weight of a person are the two most important measures for growth. Charts such as centile charts help in finding out the changes in growth. Various centile charts are used to measure the growth patterns in boys and girls. For example, it trends out that, in general, boys have more height than girls.

Development

Development is a point that deals with the skills and abilities individuals of certain age-based groups are developing according to a specific order. The most important developmental milestones are intellectual, social, physical, and emotional. 

• Physical development: Changes that happen to an individual’s body are referred to as the physical development of that person.
• Intellectual/Cognitive Development: This refers to how an individual is growing and developing physiologically and emotionally.
• Social development: Learning to be self-sufficient and developing social relations make up this point.

Human Growth and Development Stages

From a childhood development perspective, growth and development are irreversible processes of a constant increase in size. The two most important stages in human development and growth are mentioned below:

1. Foetal stage: Foetal health issues have substantial harmful effects on postnatal growth. Perinatal care should be proper and organised to ensure healthy foetal growth, which indirectly also promotes postnatal growth.
2. Postnatal stage: Postnatal growth and development occur together. However, they happen at different rates. A discontinuous saltatory spurt with a stagnant background enables growth to occur.

Factors Affecting Growth and Development

Growth and development are positively and negatively affected by negative factors like health, genetic composition, etc. Below are some of the most important factors that can judge an individual’s growth and development.

Genetic factors: Genetic factors are the most important feature which plays an important role in affecting growth and development. In the adolescence phase, height is mostly factored by parents’ genetics. According to a study, factors that are additive to genetics lead to correlations across all ages for height and body mass index.

Foetal health: This also plays a primary role in achieving normal physical growth and development. Any insult while foetal development causes adaptations in development which brings in permanent changes for the rest of the life.

Environment: The environment in which a child is born also determines how it adapts physiologically and emotionally. It can either be beneficial or harmful depending on the type of environment the child is born in. 

Socioeconomic factors: Socioeconomic classes also play a major role in the development of an individual. For example, an individual belonging to a higher socioeconomic class will have good health and height than that of the one belonging to a lower socioeconomic class. Kids in today’s generation show a trend to grow and develop faster than those in the older generation. Hence urbanisation is an important factor that comes into play here.

Characteristics of Family: The education levels of a family can directly impact the development of an individual. Emotional support, language training, and development stimulus are some of the important factors that can accelerate a child’s development. Socially backward families have problems imparting the above to a child when it is born. Hence, the growth and development of economically and socially backward children also deteriorate.  

Nutrition: Malnutrition across certain age-based groups adversely affects their physical growth. The deficiency of zinc is the main factor that can cause a delay in growth and development. Magnesium, selenium, and iodine can also play an important role.

Early childhood experience: Exposure to bad experiences during childhood can create a blockage in mental development. Neglect and ignorance during the same period are also important factors. If children are adopted post-completing six months, they risk developing cognitive issues, autism, behavioural problems, etc. 

Conclusion

This article shows how important growth and development are for individuals and tries to understand different factors that benefit or hinder them. Different ways of measuring physical growth and development should be carried out at the right time to assess their development rate. More and more awareness should be spread, especially across the lower socioeconomic classes, to pay attention to the growth and development of their children so that they can have a bright future ahead of them.