I accidentally did a comparison study last year and found that seedlings that got a lot of sun grew taller and thicker.
I dug up several maple seedlings from the north side of the house and put them in pots on the south side, with full sun 6-8 hours. By September they were 20-30 cm tall, 6-10 mm thick, while some still in the ground in the shade were 10 cm tall and 2 mm thick.
Southside also got fertilizer, so there were more variables, but the big one was full sun.