The effects of predisposition to perform harmful social behaviour, maternal rearing environment, and lactation environment on the responses of pigs to weaning at 3 or 5 weeks of age was assessed during this study. Dams for the study were selected at 7 weeks of age, and were either predisposed or non-predisposed gilts. They were selected based on scores obtained during a ‘tail chew’ test and from performance of other harmful social behaviour towards penmates. Gilts were mated with boars of similar predisposition. Half of the gilts from each predisposition had been raised until farrowing in barren environments, while the other half were raised in enriched environments. Throughout lactation, the gilts and their litters were housed in an environment similar to what the gilt had previously experienced, or in the opposite environment. Litters were early-weaned at 3 weeks of age, or weaned at 5 weeks of age. They were then regrouped and housed in barren slatted pens. Piglets from non-predisposed dams experienced reduced growth during the post-weaning period, and increased belly-nosing behaviour in response to early weaning. Conclusions stated that these effects were not mitigated by maternal experience or lactation environment factors, and so the type of selection used was deemed not commercially viable. Offspring experienced reduced welfare when their dams were raised in barren environments. Evidence of this existed in increased adrenocortical reactivity during the lactation period and in increased belly nosing behaviour seen in response to early weaning. When housed in enriched lactation environments, the effects of barren maternal rearing environment on belly nosing behaviour of offspring was eliminated. Improved growth rates were also found in the post-weaning period when the pigs were raised in enriched lactation environments. It was suggested that the improved growth was due to an improved ability to cope with the weaning process. On the whole, results showed that early environmental factors and genetics both influence the responses of pigs to weaning. Furthermore, the adverse effects of barren maternal rearing environments may be overcome by housing pigs in enriched lactation environments.