Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory identifies 5 environmental systems that act with bi-directional influences amongst context and individuals to describe human development. From most intimate to least intimate, the components of this theory include: microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems, and chronosystems (Berk, 2010).
This paper will describe how each of these systems shapes an individual’s life progression by analyzing their effects at the ages of twenty-five and forty-five on an interviewee, Kitty.
These ages were chosen specifically because of the significant gap in their maturity levels. The majority of people experience different settings and relationships as young adults than they do later in their life and therefore the contexts the individual faces will be appropriately different at each of the two time periods. The most immediate connections and activities that are made on a day-to-day basis fall under the category of a microsystem (Berk, 2010).
The birth of Kitty’s first daughter falls under this level of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory.
At the age of twenty-five, Kitty’s daughter became the center of her attention and therefore one of the most important microsystems in her life at this time. She gave her child support, comfort, and everything necessary for survival, while the child motivated her mother to mature and take on more responsibility. This is an example of how there is always a bi-directional influence of the context on the individual. This system can also be found later in the development of Kitty’s life in her relationship with close friends.
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Now, at the age of forty-five her children no longer live at home, and Kitty’s microsystem focus has shifted to the relationships she has forged with close friends. On Friday Nights, Kitty and her husband go out to dinner with another couple, the Jensen’s thus providing each other with friendship and advice. The next stage in the Ecological Systems Theory, known as the mesosystem, is comprised of the interactions between multiple microsystems (Berk, 2010).
Kitty worked as a secretary at the age of twenty-five.
The relationships she has created at work are considered mesosystems to how she interacts with her child and husband at home. When there would be an altercation at work she would come home after having a bad day and reflect this behavior in how warm and inviting she was towards her daughter and husband. This system can work vice versa also. If her daughter is up sick all night, it will show in how irritable she is towards her co-workers the next day. These two microsystems, though nonrelated both have a bi-directional effect on Kitty and on each other.
Even though Kitty’s microsystems have changed throughout time, this exchange can still be found in her forties, specifically forty-five. While it is no longer her baby that would influence or be influenced by Kitty and her outside relationships this trend is still relevant. Take for example her newest microsystem, Mr. and Mrs. Jensen. If Kitty has an altercation with her boss on a Friday while at work she is no longer in the mood to go out to dinner with them that night as she normally would. The microsystem she has with her boss effects the microsystem she has with her close friends.
The third level of Bronfenbrenner’s model is the exosystem in which outside settings influence the individual. While these circumstances do not directly involve Kitty, they still have some kind of impact on her immediate surroundings (Berk, 2010).
An example of how she is affected by societal forces is when the Challenger Shuttle exploded in 1986. While Kitty had no direct link to the Challenger mission, its impact brought her community as a whole closer together and in exchange created more microsystems for her. This same environment can be found !3 when Kitty is forty-five.
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Around this time the war in Iraq had begun and because of it her community had grown closer together to support those who had gone overseas to fight. The final stage of the Ecological Systems model is the macrosystem or the cultural contexts the individual is immersed in (Berk, 2010).
The support or lack thereof by the community falls into this category. At twenty-five, Kitty lived in a poorer neighborhood where there was very little support from the institutions and community organizations that are usually present in the more affluent neighborhoods.
These can include good day cares, quick emergency assistance, and community leaders that have its member’s interests at heart. By the time Kitty reached age forty-five her socioeconomic status had increased to an upper-middle class level where she is living in a nice neighborhood with all of the above mentioned community institutions. This can be traced back to when her first daughter was born and the microsystem it created. Having a child pushed Kitty to grow and work harder to make a better life for herself thus being an integral part in her development to where she is at this stage of her life.
The chronosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s model represents time. Internal and external forces work side by side to influence human development. People can change their development through their choices or the environment can change it for them (Berk, 2010).
Adapting at age twenty-five and becoming a more mature individual after having a child is an example of how Kitty fits into the chronosystem. By the time she has reached forty-five, this adaptation has caused a much different life course than the one she had previously been on.
Through this paper I learned that the five-systems in the ecological model created by Bronfenbrenner, work interchangeably to influence the development of a person’s life. Each area of the model has an equally important affect on maturation and helps to shape individuals into !4 what they are today. This showed me that while we influence our environment so too does our environment influence us and this interplay between the two is the foundation of the Ecological Systems Theory.
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This essay is an attempt to show how culture influences human development and interpretation of the world. Therefore, to start with this essay will define culture by different scholars. It will then show the types of culture and give a brief account on what culture constitutes (characteristics of culture). Furthermore, the concept of human development will be discussed briefly to give the reader a ...
