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  • Essay / Bronfenbrenner Analysis of Ecological Human Development...

    The ecological theory of development was created by a Russian-American psychologist named Urie Bronfenbrenner. He developed this theory based on his belief that all children grow and develop differently depending on their environmental factors and the situations surrounding those environmental factors. The theory consisted of four levels and later a fifth level was added. The microsystem level focused on the factors immediately surrounding the child. These factors may include: family, school, neighborhood and church. The mesosystem level is a connection between two different environments, such as school and neighborhood. These external environmental factors such as media, government, extended family and friends are called exosystem. The fourth level of the theory included environmental factors related to cultural beliefs and the national economy. The fifth level, the chronosystem, was later added by Bronfenbrenner to show that changes occur over time within each individual. As I studied these different levels of ecological development, it became clear that each of these levels influenced my life at different stages. And each level had a different environmental influence on my progress. In Bronfenbrenner's model, my microsystem consisted of my mother, my father, and my two younger brothers. My mother always worked full time outside the home and only attended one year of college. In contrast, my father did not have a college education but did graduate from high school. He couldn't read very well and worked as a construction worker. His medical problems were numerous and he was diagnosed as disabled for most of my childhood. One of my brothers was only fifteen months younger than me, and the other five and a half years younger. The next... middle of paper ......pursue a second master's degree in career counseling. I recently came to the final stages of a job offer as a guidance counselor and was not offered the position. When asked for feedback on my interview, I was told that although my resume and interview were very impressive and I was one of the top 3 candidates, I was not chosen due to my lack of direct training and experience as a counselor. So this just confirmed my decision that I chose the right time to pursue another master's degree. Works Cited Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Crandell, T.L., Crandell, CH, & Vander Zanden, J.W. (2009). Human Development (9th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Paquette, D., Ryan, J. (nd) Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory. Retrieved from http://pt3.nl.edu/paquetteryanwebquest.pdf