SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
The physical environment can influence child development directly and via adult
caregivers. In addition to studies with stronger research designs examining the
role of environmental qualities in child development, more work is needed on
underlying mechanisms to account for developmental impacts of the physical
environment. Prime candidates include parent-child interaction and other interpersonal
processes, self-regulation, physiological adaptations, and control beliefs.
This work should investigate how the intensity—but also the predictability and
continuity of such mechanisms—is altered by the physical environment. In addition
to examining the role of age, other moderatorswarranting attention are gender,
temperament, nutrition, intelligence, and prematurity