Developmental Psychology – Chapter 9 – The Bioecological Model (pp.396-401)
The Bioecological Model (Urie Bronfenbrenner)
Treats the child´s environment as “a set of nested structures, each inside the next,
like a set of Russian dolls” (each structure represents a diferent level of infuence on
development – child at the center with partcular constellaton of characteristcs)
Over course of development the child´s characteristcs interact with the
environmental forces present at each level (depending on how immediate efects
are, but all have an impact)
Complexity & interconnectedness of each level
Ecological – it considers how multple levels of context infuence outcomes (varying
from narrow microsystems to extremely broad macrosystems)
o Microsystem – in the bioecological model, the immediate environment that
an individual child personally experiences and partcipates in (e.g. family)
Bidirectonal nature of all relatonships within the microsystem
o Mesosystem – in the bioecological model, the interconnectons among
immediate, or microsystem, setngs (moving out from child´s home into
community)
o Exosystem – in the bioecological model, environmental setngs that a child
does not directly experience but that can afect the child indirectly
o Macrosystem – in the bioecological model, the larger cultural and social
context in which the other systems are embedded (e.g. natonal laws)
o Chronosystem – in the bioecological model, historical changes that infuence
the other systems
Changing beliefs, values, customs, social circumstances, technologies
Example - Parentng in America 2015 (Pew Survey)
Microsystem:
Parents reading to children every day drops with bachelor degree to high school
diploma or less (71%-33%)
Number of children partcipatng in sports dropped from higher to lower income
parents (84%-59%)
Mesosytem:
78% of higher-income parents rated neighborhood as good/excellent, only 42% of
lower-income families did
Exosystem:
80% of kids younger than 6-9 & of kids older than 6 have daily screen tme
opportunites for children to be infuenced by media
Macrosystem:
broad cultural diferences in parents´ aspiratons for their children as well as
concerns
The Bioecological Model (Urie Bronfenbrenner)
Treats the child´s environment as “a set of nested structures, each inside the next,
like a set of Russian dolls” (each structure represents a diferent level of infuence on
development – child at the center with partcular constellaton of characteristcs)
Over course of development the child´s characteristcs interact with the
environmental forces present at each level (depending on how immediate efects
are, but all have an impact)
Complexity & interconnectedness of each level
Ecological – it considers how multple levels of context infuence outcomes (varying
from narrow microsystems to extremely broad macrosystems)
o Microsystem – in the bioecological model, the immediate environment that
an individual child personally experiences and partcipates in (e.g. family)
Bidirectonal nature of all relatonships within the microsystem
o Mesosystem – in the bioecological model, the interconnectons among
immediate, or microsystem, setngs (moving out from child´s home into
community)
o Exosystem – in the bioecological model, environmental setngs that a child
does not directly experience but that can afect the child indirectly
o Macrosystem – in the bioecological model, the larger cultural and social
context in which the other systems are embedded (e.g. natonal laws)
o Chronosystem – in the bioecological model, historical changes that infuence
the other systems
Changing beliefs, values, customs, social circumstances, technologies
Example - Parentng in America 2015 (Pew Survey)
Microsystem:
Parents reading to children every day drops with bachelor degree to high school
diploma or less (71%-33%)
Number of children partcipatng in sports dropped from higher to lower income
parents (84%-59%)
Mesosytem:
78% of higher-income parents rated neighborhood as good/excellent, only 42% of
lower-income families did
Exosystem:
80% of kids younger than 6-9 & of kids older than 6 have daily screen tme
opportunites for children to be infuenced by media
Macrosystem:
broad cultural diferences in parents´ aspiratons for their children as well as
concerns
