 How is a child's development affected by their social relationships and the world around them? Ecological systems theory provides one approach to answering this question. The ecological systems theory was developed by Yuri Bronfenbrenner. Bronfenbrenner believed that a person's development was affected by everything in their surrounding environment. He divided the person's environment into five different levels. The microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem. In this lesson, you will learn about these different environmental levels by meeting five-year-old Alex and examining the influences in his life. We will begin with the first level of Bronfenbrenner's theory, the microsystem. The microsystem is the system closest to the person and the one in which they have direct contact. Some examples would be home, school, daycare, or work. A microsystem typically includes family, peers, or caregivers. Relationships in a microsystem are bidirectional. In other words, your reactions to the people in your microsystem will affect how they treat you in return. This is the most influential level of the ecological systems theory. Let's look at the microsystem Alex lives in. The first part of his microsystem is his home environment. This includes his interaction with his parents and little sister. Alex's school is also a part of his microsystem. His regular school interactions are with his kindergarten teacher and the other children in his class. The next level of ecological systems theory is the mesosystem. The mesosystem consists of the interactions between the different parts of a person's microsystem. The mesosystem is where a person's individual microsystems do not function independently but are interconnected and a certain influence upon one another. These interactions have an indirect impact on the individual. One aspect of Alex's mesosystem would be the relationship between his parents and his teacher. His parents take an active role in his school such as attending parent-teacher conferences and volunteering in the classroom. This has a positive impact on his development because the different elements of his microsystem are working together. Alex's development could be affected in a negative way if the different elements of his microsystem were working against one another. The exosystem is the next level we will examine. The exosystem refers to a setting that does not involve the person as an active participant but still affects them. This includes decisions that have bearing on the person but in which they have no participation in the decision-making process. An example would be a child being affected by a parent receiving a promotion at work or losing their job. One part of Alex's exosystem would be his father's workplace. Alex's father is in the Navy. This often takes him away from the family and Alex sometimes does not see his father for months at a time. This situation impacts Alex and he becomes anxious when his father leaves. Alex's anxiety has an effect on his development in other areas even though he has no interaction with his father's work or say in a decision-making process. The fourth level of ecological systems theory is the macrosystem. The macrosystem encompasses the cultural environment in which the person lives and all other systems that affect them. Examples could include the economy, cultural values, and political systems. The macrosystem can have either a positive or a negative effect on the person's development. For an example, consider the different effects of the development of a child growing up in a third world economy versus that of the United States. An important aspect of Alex's macrosystem is the fact that he is a military child. Because of this, he has already moved three times and lived in two different countries by the age of five. Alex is also influenced by the values of the military community that he belongs to. The chronosystem is the final level in ecological systems theory. The chronosystem is the dimension of time in relation to a person's development. Time can be relevant in different ways. One way time can be an influence is the timing of an event during a person's development. For example, the death of a parent would affect a three-year-old differently than a teenager. Time can also be an influence because of historical events or conditions that exist during a person's life. An example would be the effects of growing up during the Great Depression or during World War II. Technology is one important part of Alex's chronosystem. Alex has grown up using a computer and playing video games. He even received his own iPad as a Christmas present. This could have a developmental impact on his learning style and social skills. Alex's experience with technology is also very different from that of a child growing up 20 years earlier. Ecological systems theory was developed by Yuri Bronfenbrenner. He divided the environment into five different levels. The microsystem is the most influential, has the closest relationship to the person, and is the one where direct contact occurs. The mesosystem consists of interactions between a person's microsystems. The exosystem affects a person indirectly without their direct involvement. The macrosystem includes all other systems and a societal culture surrounding a person. Finally, the chronosystem refers to the dimension of time and can be divided into two parts. The importance of the timing of an event during a person's development or events that are unique to a particular generation. Each of these levels includes systems that influence the development of an individual in some way.