Essay on Child Development and The Ecological Theory

The ecological system theory developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner views the child development as being in a system of connections affected by many levels of the surrounding environment (Berk,2006). This approach discussed by Berk (2006) starts with the inner most layer of this system being the microsystem. This system is made up of all the settings that personally interact and influence the child. Explained from Laser and Nicotera 2011) the immediate influences from the microsystem for an infant starts with the home and the interactions the child has with their parents or caregiver. This level in the system helps the child form social relationships that later in their life will take part in activities outside of the home. This type of involvement builds on the child’s physical skills (playing at the park, or out on recess) and cognitive abilities (involvement with preschool, schools and daycare). For Walter, many of

Ecological model of child development is the way of understanding the children’s development. It is important to notice how children behave in a natural way, whereas relating with adults for a certain period of time. A human’s development is based on what’s close to them. Biological hypothesis depends on the relationship between various life forms and their physical condition. This incorporates connections between vital grown-ups in a child's life. For instance, how frequently do the guardians and the youngster's child mind supplier talk? What's more, it additionally incorporates advances the kid makes between settings. For instance, are the desires comparable in nursery and crèche, or are a few youngsters confronted with totally

Children can be victims of different types of maltreatment such as neglect, medical abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse (Maschi, Bradley, & Ward, 2009). “On average, nationally, there is a report of child maltreatment every 5 seconds, and child maltreatment is substantiated every

Child maltreatment is characterized as “all intentional harm to, or avoidable endangerment of, anyone under 18 years of age” (Berger, 2014, pp. 236). Subtypes of child maltreatment includes child abuse (intentional harm inflicted on a child physically, emotionally, or sexually) and child neglect (failure to provide physical, educational or emotional needs) (Berger, 2014). Lower socioeconomic status (SES) and dysfunctional families can increases the risk for child maltreatment (Harpur, Polek, & van Harmelen, 2015). Additional circumstances that can increase the risk for child maltreatment is low maternal education, single-parenthood, non-biological caregivers, and parental substance abuse (Harpur et al, 2015). In 2012, in the United States,

Development psychology has many ideas of how humans are influence during their development. The ones that this paper will be covering are the Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems, nature and nurture influences and cultural influences. I have also given my own personal influence to further demonstrate my understanding of each idea.

Effects vary depending on the types of the maltreatment, characteristics of the child, and his or her environment. The consequences may be mild or severe; may come and go during their lifetime or last their lifetime; and affect them physically, psychologically, behaviorally, or in some combination of all three. Due to related costs to the public such as for health-care and educational systems, maltreatment impacts not just the child and family, but the public as well. Therefore, it is vital for the public to provide a scaffolding of preventative strategies and services before maltreatment occurs and to be prepared to offer remediation and treatment when

The ecological theory was created by Urie Bronfenbrenner to explain the development of children. According to Bronfenbrenner, everything that is in a child’s environment effects the way that child grows and develops. This theory helps us understand why we may behave differently in the presence of family and friend than school and work. The ecological theory is broken down into four levels: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and the chronosystem. Microsystems. The microsystem is the environment filled with people who have direct contact with you. The mesosystem is involves the relations between the microsystem and the individual. The exosystem is the layer in which a child does not function directly. The macrosystem is the layer that involves a child’s cultural patterns, values, beliefs and ideas. Lastly, the chronosystem addresses the change over a

The ecological approach is useful for understanding child maltreatment because the approach focuses on factors that can lead to child maltreatment. A few factors the ecological approach focuses on is community defects, social attitudes, poverty, race and ethnicity, parental characteristics, substance abuse, domestic violence, and animal abuse. By looking at these factors social workers can detect, and prevent child maltreatment cases. By looking at community defects, social workers can see where social services are not meeting the needs of the community. Society attitudes can reflect signs of child abuse, psychological maltreatment, and sexual abuse. Poverty is a major sign of child neglect. Race and ethnicity factors can show signs

As soon when the child goes outside the family in this wider world, here is where the child encounters others social institutions, schools and the media and other aspects of society, the influence the development. Thus, the parents and the caregiver gradually guide the child to interact with the new environment. The expert Bronfenbrenner (1979) hypothesize that the child experience as broadening circle of transactions that mutually influence each other and that the motivation of child is to interact with direct environments, such as home, child care center or school. the child’s individual experience of himself and others and define roles, possibilities and obtainable in his culture. Moreover, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective will help

Child maltreatment, whether it be in the form of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, is a multifaceted problem, the understanding of which requires identifying individual, family, social, and cultural related factors. Abuse survivors often have problems with interpersonal relationships, substance abuse, depression, and psychosocial functioning in general.

Barnett, D., Manly, J. T., & Cicchetti, D. (1991). Continuing toward an operational definition of psychological maltreatment. Development and Psychopathology, 3(1), 19-29.

If trauma occurs, especially in the early years of childhood, the disturbance could limit the child’s “developmental possibilities” in multiple facets of life that incorporates personal, familial, cultural, and ecological realms (Paris, 2012, p. 84). Further, this could lead to future re-victimization, and the misdiagnosis and

Bronfenbrenner Analysis Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Urie Bronfenbrenner is today credited and known in the psychology development field for the development of the ecological systems theory constructed to offer an explanation of the way everything in a child and their environment affects the whole child development. Bronfenbrenner ecological theory has levels or aspects of the environment containing roles, norms, and rules defining child development namely the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosytem, the macrosystem and the chronosystem. The subsequent discussion offers an analysis of these levels and their influence to child development, and then offers a personal analysis of the influence of the ecological theory in decision making.

I gained an understanding of the importance of multiple influences on early development. Bronfenbrenner described four systems that influence child development. The microsystem involves those that are part of children's most immediate environment, including the child's parents and other primary caregivers. Interactions between the child and those adults impact children's development. The second system is the mesosystem and involves systems that interact with the people in the microsystem, including child care programs and schools. Exosystems are places in which children do not spend time but which

One theory that relates to a child’s communication and social life is Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner. His theory ‘The Ecology of Human Development’ clarifies that a child’s environment, interactions and relationships influence the child’s overall development. Urin Bronfenbrenner believed that an individual is affected by their social relationships and their world around them. His theory was broken up into five different levels including: the microsystem, which is the system, closet to an individual e.g. their home, school, day care work and family, how these groups interact with one another will have an effect on how the child grows; the mesosystem, which are the interactions between different parts of a microsystem e.g. how groups within the micro system work together to best raise the child; the exosystem refers to other people and places that the child may not interact with but has a large impact on them e.g. parents workplace and neighbourhood; the macrosystem, which is the largest and most remote systems to a child but has a great influence over the child e.g. government, cultural values and the economy; and lastly the chronosystem, which are the transitions and shifts in the lifespan e.g. parents divorce (Bronfenbrenner, 2009). This theory explores the different ways an individuals surrounding environment can