Which of the following is an individual risk factor for development?

Prepare for the Level 2 Healthcare Participant Exam 2. Utilize flashcards and multiple choice questions with detailed hints and explanations to gear up for success!

Understanding development involves separating factors that are inherent to the child from those in the surrounding environment. An individual risk factor is something about the child itself. Malnutrition directly reflects the child’s nutritional status and can impair growth, immune function, and brain development, leading to delays in physical and cognitive milestones. Those other factors—poverty, low parental education, and acute life stress—describe the environment the child grows up in and influence development through access to resources, caregiving quality, and exposure to stress, rather than being a property of the child’s own biology. So malnutrition is the best example of an individual risk factor for development.