Topic > Ecological systems theory: how the surrounding environment can influence child development

For this research, the researcher refers to ecological systems theory to explain the experiences of children with householders and how they survive in daily life in where they find themselves exposed to abuse, hunger, poverty, harm and the lack of a relationship or guidance between parents and carers that is vital to the child's development. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayEcological Systems TheoryBronfenbrenner developed his ecological systems theory to define and understand human development in the context of the system of relationships that form the person's environment. Human developmental ecology is the scientific study of the progressive and mutual adaptation, throughout the life course, between an active, growing human being and the changing properties of the immediate environments in which the developing person lives. Therefore; Bronfenbrenner's bioecological systems theory is useful for organizing factors that enhance individual resilience because each factor can be positioned around an individual based on the proximity of the factor in relation to the individual's ecosystem. Using this framework in relation to this study, it is possible to evaluate the effectiveness of internal characteristics of the person, such as adaptive coping and optimism, as well as factors external to the person, such as family support, neighborhood networks, health care, government financial support and so on to promote individual resilience and the survival of child-headed families. Adopted from Bronfenbrenner In the model following the illustration above, the individual interacts directly with the people, ideas, and things in his or her microsystem, which includes family, peers, and the school system. It describes how different parts of an individual's microsystem work together. This represents the interconnections or lack thereof between the individual's microsystems; connections between home and work or school, for example, or between home and friends. For example; In their microsystem, children who are heads of families do not have parents to help them learn the values ​​and attitudes of society and help them become self-sufficient and take care of themselves. Children adapt to the parental role. Janes (2015) emphasizes that children are not miniature adults and should not be treated as if they were. Therefore the absence of a parental figure leads to a situation in which the child overcomes most of the stages of childhood by taking on the role of parent and this has a great impact on his childhood and on how he will be able to survive and at least feed himself and feed. protect each other. The second immediate layer, the mesosystem, includes the connections and processes that take place between two or more environments containing the developing person (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). In other words, a mesosystem is a system of several microsystems such as home and school. What happens in a home, for example, influences what happens in school, in society, in their friendships, and in what children spend their time. In families headed by children, an element is missing and the link through which parents provide the network of interactions, protection and guidance is missing. The breakdown of a child's microsystem leaves the child without adequate adult supervision (Chidziva, 2014). Children may have difficulty developing positive relationships with anyone outside their new family, are often prone to abuse, and lack engagement in life. According to Bronfenbrenner, (1994) the exosystem level includes other people and places where an individual may not interact often.