Poll Results: What Factors Contribute the Most to Early Childhood Development?


by The Health Sciences Academy — Get free science updates here.


In January, we asked you to participate in a survey, asking you to help us understand what we adults believe as being important for childhood wellbeing and development.

As many of us know – this is probably one of the most important topics we can discuss! Excellent early development leads to happier, healthier, and often more productive lives…

After all, it’s us as the parents, guardians, teachers, and nutritional professionals, who are going to have an influence on the growth and development of children.

While many of the respondents of this study by The Health Sciences Academy were from the UK and US, 35 different countries took part!

I’m curious to see the results from the UK study and how our worldwide results compare to those!

So, let’s take a look at a few of the results from the study and find out what YOU and your colleagues think are important for young children, and who you believe holds the most responsibility to help nourish their growth.

What do you believe is the most important for children growing up today to live a happy adult life?

First off, we asked you to rank four factors on what you believe are the most important components (the blue bars above) for children growing up today to live happy adult lives.

64% of you said that the number one factor is good physical and mental health, while only 24% of you said that access to opportunities is the most important factor.

This indicates that the vast majority of our participants agree that children need to feel good both physically and mentally to have the best possible chance to develop into happy, healthy adults!

Who is responsible to give children aged 0 to 5 years the best chance of health and happiness?

Is it the parents? Society? Both? Or neither?

Well, in this case 52% of you agreed that it’s primarily the responsibility of the parents, while 46% said it’s the shared responsibility of the parents AND others in society.

So, while parents may be the main ones influencing their children, many of you also believe that society can provide them some additional support.

What influences how children develop from the start of pregnancy to age five?

But what influences how these children develop?

Is it ALL down to nature and what a child is born with? Only 3% of you answered yes to this!

What about nurture and the experiences of a child? 29% agreed with this one.

But 66% of you agreed that it is a combination of both nature and nurture equally – indicating a strong belief that we’re all impacted by both internal and environmental factors.

Which period of a child and young person’s life do you think is the most important for health and happiness in adulthood?

Interestingly, this question may have had you scratching your head and unsure of what to answer.

Only about 1% of you believe that it is our late teenage and/or early adult years (16 to 24 years of age) that are most important to our happiness in adulthood.

The most popular opinion (36%) was that the start of pregnancy to 5 years of age had the greatest impact.

However, the option of all being equally important was close behind at 34%.

Earning an honourable mention – 5 to 11 years of age claimed 19% of your votes and 11 to 16 years of age only 7%.

How does this data help me?

It’s fascinating right?

But what does it all mean?

What can we learn from this data?

And how can it help you in your nutrition practice?

If you’re working with parents, guardians, or those who work with young children, you’ll probably face some similar questions about childhood health and wellness…

Well, this data helps us to understand what we think is important about the growth and development of children living today.

For instance, most of us agree that our childhood years are important for us as adults to be healthy and happy. And that, while genetics do play a role, so does our environment!

Which means that by supporting our youth in positive and helpful ways, we can assist them in becoming the adults that we aspire them to be.

Nutritional advisors really can play an active role in improving many factors when it comes to early childhood development!

You can help address the information gap!

Unfortunately, there’s a massive knowledge gap about child nutrition science in the general population…

Even worse, most nutrition professionals lack expertise in this field…

There are so many factors which influence a child’s potential, their learning capacity, and even their mood and behaviour – from hyperactivity to aggression, from anxiety to depression.

Practitioners today must gain a profound, science-based insight that they can use to help clients’ children PROFICIENTLY, particularly if they want to stand out and be leaders in this field.

Which is why we created the Advanced Child and Brain Development Nutritional Advisor ™ certification.

With access to the latest in the science behind early childhood development, you’ll have the power to expand your client base and to really start making a difference where it counts. Click here to learn more and get started today!


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© Copyright The Health Sciences Academy. The content, graphs and charts on this page have been exclusively prepared for The Health Sciences Academy and its prospect students, existing students and graduates. None of the content on this page and website may be reproduced, copied or altered without our explicit permission. Criminal and legal penalties for copyright and other infringement apply. All Terms and Conditions apply.

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