Urie Bronfenbrenner Ecological Model Analysis

The Ecological model was developed by Urie Bronfenbrenner. Bronfenbrenner believed that in order to understand a person or family, you must first look at the person’s environment. This theory was first introduced in the 1970s and contains five elements (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). When looking at an individual, the microsystem is the first aspect to be examined. The microsystem is everything that directly influences the person. The microsystem can be key developmental settings such as schools, classmates, and families. The next section is the mesosystem. The mesosystem is the links between the individual and the family or school. Mesosystem focuses on the relationships between the two systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). Outside of the mesosystem is

Indirectly can refer to how a person’s workplace or peer social network effects the individual. This can also prefer to policies and laws that are set in place. The fourth element is the macrosystem. The macrosystem is the larger element. This element is the overarching patterns of the other element’s characteristics. The macrosystem is the blueprint for a particular culture or subgroup (Bronfenbrenner, 1994). This can be the beliefs of a culture or even the subdivision in which the individual lives. The final element of the ecological model is chronosystem. The chronosystem is the timeline of development. The chronosystem covers all of the elements of the ecological model. This element is the changes over time and how it affects all of the environments within the ecological model. Since the development of the ecological model, many other psychologists have expanded and based their theories off of the model (Bronfenbrenner,

At Lumberton, I work with the guidance counselor. As a guidance counselor, we speak with the children and see how they are doing. When applying the ecological model to working with the children, you first look at the microsystem. The microsystem of one of the kids that we talk to is her grandmother, school, and parents. She is currently living with her grandmother due to her mother constantly being at work and father being in jail. Her grandmother takes care of her and her brother during the week and they go home to their mothers during the weekend. The mother has been known to be involved with drugs and they have solar panels at their home, meaning that the electricity goes out a lot. The grandmother took them in because the boyfriend of the mother is mean and the kids do not have much food at their mom’s home. The mesosystem of this child is her relationship with her mother and grandmother. She does not like going home to her mom’s house due to her mother’s boyfriend. The grandmother has a great relationship with the little girl. Even though the little girl has a bad home life, she was student of the month. She is an excellent student and continues to get good grades. She is using her school as a coping mechanism rather than acting out. The exosystem of this girl is the mother’s job and it could possibly be the Department of Human Services. The mother’s job keeps the mom away for a most of