Relation between somatic development and some environmental factors in the male population of vocational mining schools in the Lublin Coal Basin.

Somatic development of a child, although genetically determined, depends also on the influence of biogeographic and socio-economic factors of the environment. The effects of these factors popular in the literature are seen in the differences of somatic development of children brought up in urban and rural environments. In comparison with urban population, country children are characterized by lower growth and body mass, delayed manifestation of sexual maturity, greater amount of incorrect posture features, worse state of nutrition and lower index of mental development. The differences in somatic development of children were also found while comparing the size of agglomeration and socio-professional factors determining parents' level of education and financial situation of the family. One could also observe the improvement of somatic development of children living in regions of quick and intensive urbanization and industrialization.