Outline the system layers in Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model of development. Provide an example of each layer of the system.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The ideal answer should include:
1. Microsystem: the immediate social and physical environment of the child. Examples include the child's family, classroom, and extracurricular activities.
2. Mesosystem: influences on the child that originate from interactions between two microsystems. Examples include the parents' involvement in the child's school and parents' seeking out particular groups of children with whom their child can interact.
3. Exosystem: influences on a microsystem that are not in the child's immediate social and physical environment but that have an effect through their influence on one or more microsystems. For example, a parent who has a stressful workplace may be tense or tired when she or he comes home and may be less likely to interact with the child or may be more irritable with the child, changing the family microsystem.
4. Macrosystem: the cultural beliefs and ideologies characteristic of the geographic setting in which the other layers of the system function. These effects are difficult to identify but they can alter exosystem, mesosystem, and microsystem influences on the child. An example is that in the United States, there is a strong reliance on fast-food restaurants by families, which can in turn increase the number of calories consumed by parents and children. Other examples can be derived from the influences of culture on child development.
5. Chronosystem: the influence of time on all layers of the system. Examples include the experience of a generation, such as children growing up in the digital age and how this impacts child development.