Ecological factors associated with adolescent pregnancy and parenting, compare and contrast the finding as it relates to Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model in a 1-page article critique.
- The Microsystem, consisting of the social-psychological variables of alcohol and drug abuse
- The Mesosystem, consisting of family structure, family functioning, problems with friends, the neighborhood, and the school, as well as enacted social support
- The Macrosystem, consists of household income, parents’ occupations, and race.
Overview
Urie Bronfenbrenner, an American psychologist, was skeptical of prior ideas of child development. He contended that studies of children in unfamiliar laboratory surroundings with one other person, generally a stranger, were ecologically invalid
According to Bronfenbrenner (1974), most earlier research were ‘unidirectional,’ meaning that the laboratory investigations observed the influence of A on B (e.g., a stranger/mother with a child), rather than the child’s or any other third party’s influence.
According to Bronfenbrenner, these laboratory aspects of study are not typical of the circumstances in which children actually live and develop.
Bronfenbrenner observed that there are numerous factors of a child’s existence that interact with and affect the youngster. His research extended beyond individual development to consider broader influencing elements and the context (or ecology) of development. Based on these dynamic interactions that the settings have on the developing kid, he established the ‘Ecological Systems Theory.’
Bronfenbrenner’s (1974) viewpoint is similar to Albert Bandua’s social learning theory and Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, in which the environment is overtly or implicitly acknowledged as a critical process in development.
