Many factors can affect growth velocity during all phases of childhood growth, such as: race, genetic, familial, nutritional, hormonal, recurrent infections, severe chronic illnesses, socioeconomic factors, emotional factors and certain drugs. Growth failure is the term that describes a growth rate below the appropriate growth velocity for age. A child is considered short if he or she has a height that is below the third percentile; alternatively, some define short stature as height less than 2 standard deviations below the mean.