Читать книгу Child Development From Infancy to Adolescence - Laura E. Levine - Страница 128

Ecological theory has expanded the range and number of variables (characteristics that can be measured and that can have different values) that researchers include to more fully understand a child’s development within multiple contexts. For example, this theory helped researchers understand the full context in which immigrant children in the United States develop by examining the influences from family and peers (microsystem), the interaction of family, peers, and school (mesosystem), neighborhoods (exosystem), and immigrant cultural values (macrosystem) as they apply to the transition from adolescence to adulthood (chronosystem; Paat, 2013).

Variable: A characteristic that can be measured and that can have different values.

Another legacy of human ecology is the application of theory to social policy. A human ecologist believes all levels of society affect human development. The logical extension of this belief is to become active in the creation of social policy, including legislation and programs at all levels of government. Bronfenbrenner himself was active in the creation of Head Start, a program designed to help disadvantaged children by providing interventions at several different levels. Head Start not only provides an excellent educational program for children but also helps their families by providing help with financial, social, educational, and psychological difficulties they might be experiencing. It also creates links between the classroom setting and the child’s home. You will read more about Head Start and the impact it has had on children’s lives in Chapter 9.

Social policy in action. The development of the Head Start program was strongly influenced by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory because it was designed to provide interventions at several of the levels described in the theory.

AP Photo/Peter Cihelka