The environment in which the child grows up in plays a large role in the development of intelligence.  As it states in the article by Guang Guo and Elizabeth Stearns, a child’s ability to realize his or her genetic predispositions for intellectual development depends on social environments.  Children growing up in disadvantaged environments face greater problems in society and are less likely to realize their genetic potential.  Poor learning conditions in such environments are also proven to suppress the genetic potential for intelligence in these children.  When the genetic potential is suppressed it is likely to be replaced by the influences from the environment.  This means that environmental influences on intellectual development are higher in a bad environment than in a good environment.

            There has been no evidence, however, to prove that there is any difference between two advantaged environments.  For example, a child growing up in an upper class family would have no advantage in intelligence over a child who grew up in a middle class family.  Since a good environment provides more favorable conditions for intellectual development; children growing up in it are more likely to reach their potential for intelligence.  One environment may be more privileged than the other, but both are considered to be "good enough" for intellectual development.

            It is often had to measure factors in the child’s environment to determine their level of influence on the child.  One measure commonly used to assess a child’s home environment is the number of books in the home. But having many books in the home may be related to the parents’ IQ, because highly intelligent people tend to read more. The child’s intelligence may be due to the parents’ genes or to the number of books in the home. Further, parents may buy more books in response to their child’s genetically influenced intelligence

            An interesting fact that was found in the article was the percentage in which environmental factors played a part in intelligence in regards to the biological father of the child being present versus not.  The evidence showed that children not living with their biological fathers have 28% of the variance in intellectual development contributed by the environment.  This is compared to only 12% for children living with their biological fathers.  Thus, says that a biological father being absent in a child’s life creates a poor environment and suppress the genetic inheritance of intelligence.