Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory

TLDR

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological (now bioecological) systems theory posits that a child’s development is shaped by nested environmental layers—biological, family/community, and societal—whose interactions and changes ripple across the system. The study aims to examine child development by analyzing the interplay between the child, immediate surroundings, and broader environmental contexts.

Abstract

This theory looks at a child’s development within the context of the system of relationships that form his or her environment. Bronfenbrenner’s theory defines complex “layers” of environment, each having an effect on a child’s development. This theory has recently been renamed “bioecological systems theory” to emphasize that a child’s own biology is a primary environment fueling her development. The interaction between factors in the child’s maturing biology, his immediate family/community environment, and the societal landscape fuels and steers his development. Changes or conflict in any one layer will ripple throughout other layers. To study a child’s development then, we must look not only at the child and her immediate environment, but also at the interaction of the larger environment as well.