Introduction

Although each child is unique, the basic patterns or principles of growth and development are
relatively similar, universal, predictable. The science of child development and early learning
shows to us the importance and complexity of working with young children from infancy
through the early elementary years. Early childhood is a time when developmental changes
that occur, have profound and lasting consequences on the child’s future development, hence
this period is extremely crucial. Looking around, we see that any large society encompasses
various “layers” of environment that deeply affect the children’s development in one way or
another.  Child rearing practices are forms of socialization process whereby a new member is
fostered and trained in such a way that he/she learns the ways of life in order to become a
useful member of the society and this provides opportunity for the survival of the society
(Ajiboye, Atere & Olufumni , 2009). Various theoretical perspectives have been proposed in
an attempt to understand lifespan development and human behavior. Two of the most well
known theories on lifespan development include the ethological theory, which emphasizes
how biology impacts human behavior, and the ecological systems theory, which views the
role that the environment plays in shaping a person's growth and development (Arch,
Marylouise, and Spur, 2006).  According to Bronfenbrenner's model which was formulated in
the late 1970’s, the development of a person's lifespan is influenced by each of the complex
layers around us. The ecological systems theory was recently called "the bioecological
systems theory" to emphasize how much one's biology contributes to their lifelong
development (Berk, 2000). It was hypothesized that "Individual development is fuelled and
guided by the interactions of the different biological factors, as well as by one's own
immediate family, community, and social surroundings". The debate over the relative
importance of nature vs. nurture is also addressed by Bronfenbrenner in his theory.  He
contends that because nature and nurture are interdependent and a part of a dynamic system,
it is difficult to distinguish between their respective contributions, both influence each other.

Viewing the formative years of my personal life as seen through the ecological systems
theory

Bronfenbrenner’s (1974) theoretical perspective shares a few similarities with the works of
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory and Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory in which the
environment is seen as explicitly or implicitly a crucial element in development.  However,
what makes this theory different is that it rests on the three main assumptions supported by
Bronfenbrenner. They are:  that the individual is the primary player and exerts substantial
force on his/her environment; the environment can force an individual to adapt to its
restrictions and conditions; and that the environment is viewed to comprise dissimilar size
entities that belong one inside the other. Bronfenbrenner divided the child environment into 5
subsystems, namely the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem and the
chronosystem. Due to the interdependence of the five systems, the impact of one system on a
child's development depends on how it interacts with the others.

I believe that all of our lives are shaped by the ecological systems theory irrespective of the
individual differences we have.

The microsystem

 The microsystem comprises the immediate environment the child is a part of.  As defined by
Bronfenrenner, a microsystem is "a
pattern of activities, roles, and
interpersonal relations experienced over
time by the developing individual in a
given location with specific physical
and material properties''. The
microsystem of a child also includes
people that they interact with on a daily
basis even though they are not a part of
the child's home. Therefore, the micro
system broadly includes: family,
neighborhood play area, school, peers,
the child’s day care etc. Bronfenbrenner
noted that it is important to understand the microsystem because it provides the outline for
the processes that will affect the  psychological development and behavioral changes of the
child.

Drawing from my personal life, as a child, my microsystem would probably have included
my close family members, my school, the daycare/ preschool, my close friends I had when I
was little and the neighborhood around my house. Talking about each of them in detail, in my
microsystem, the influence from my family members would precede before all. I have a very
small cute family consisting of my father Dr. Jojo Joseph, who is a doctor (orthodontist
specializes in neuromuscular dentistry), my mother Sumi, who is a homemaker and my elder
brother Joseph, who is currently working. The family is the environment that offers love,
nurturance and a range of opportunities. I believe that when I was a child, my family largely
decided the majority of the things about me. Having to become the person I am today, I
greatly value my experiences back then that have guided me. I believe that my identity as a
person was shaped by my parents' experiences, our shared surroundings and personal
attributes and values that I was exposed to since childhood, basically their perspectives on
things had a large impact on me.  This theory suggests that a child’s parents may affect their
beliefs and behavior, similarly, the child also affects the behavior and beliefs of the parent.
Bronfenbrenner calls these ‘bi-directional’ influences, and he tells us how they occur among
all levels of the environment.

As of what I can remember, both my parents

were equally involved in my upbringing. It was
in fact, with my mother that I had spent more
time with as a child and it modelled a sense of
intimate relationship with her that made me
feel safe and protected. Maybe it was because
of the mistrust and insecurities I had with the
surroundings that led me to building this
anxious attachment with my parents. According
to my mom, I was naughty at home and silent
outside of home. I was independent and always
liked things to be done on my own. My mom
also described me as extremely stupid and gullible at that time.  While speaking to my mom
about my childhood, she mentioned that my birth was not an easy one. Although the
pregnancy went smooth, a few days after I was born I was diagnosed with a serious disease of
‘Hypoglycemia’ which resulted in me being admitted in the ICU for weeks. My parents
mentioned that it was very difficult for them and that during that period more than extra care
was given to me. Although I was hanging by a thread, within weeks I recovered fully.
Throughout my infancy, it was my mom that closely took care of me. While speaking to her,
we came across a funny instance where, while giving me a bath, my mom used to sing a few
songs to entertain me and I used to fall asleep listening to them, that is even when water was
being poured on my face. And then she would hug me and lift me up so that my eyes stay
open while giving me bath. Instances like these I believe did bring a lot of intimacy between
the two of us that later developed abundantly when I grew up. Whereas my father on the
other hand was terrible with babies, although he is a loving father, he did not know how to
take care of young babies and as a child, both my brother and I would cry when my dad used
to pick us up at family functions which ended up being very embarrassing for him. However,
he has taught me a lot in life. My father was big on giving advices regarding the importance
of “living life till its fullest”. He used to always tell us this specific sentence in Malayalam
which translates into English as ‘no matter if you do not become anything big in life, just live
a life without cheating or harming others and with a mind that is guilt free all the time’. Some
of them are lines I hold closely, even today.

Early memories with my elder brother as a

child were him teaching me how to play with
his toys. There is a substantial body of
research from numerous disciplines that
supports the role of ‘play’ in child
development. Since he was two years older
than me, he had all of his toys before itself
and he would teach me how each toy is to be
played. Building blocks and Noddy board
games were some of them. When I grew up a
little more from around 3 years, I had games
to myself which included a kitchen set and baby dolls which I would consider as my own
child and take care of. One of the most crucial ways for children to learn their surroundings is
via play. My mom had also narrated instances where I would just play dress up with her
Saree and heels which both wouldn’t even fit me at all.
I would use her makeup too and dress
myself up and acted like a grown up girl
walking around the whole house asking
everyone about how beautiful I looked
with the Saree on. Kids who develop
healthy play behaviors feel capable,
achieve accomplishment, socialize, and
gain knowledge of nonviolent ways to
deal with others. Another important
thing that is to be noted is that because I
had a brother who is elder than me,
behaviours like sharing and co-
operation were taught to me very early
on in life. I had to share rooms with him and always had to learn to wait for my turn while
playing, while using bathroom and mostly everything in general. This helped in
understanding why it is important to consider others before doing something.

Moving on, from 4 years old onwards, my mom used to be involved in whatever I did on my
own, she used to always be behind me for everything. During the day she used to drop me at
my neighbour’s house during my play time and then be on time to pick me up from there. At
night, she used to read to me bed time stories that I used to find really entertaining and
engaging as a child. According to my mom, after listening to these stories, I would talk
gibberish and make up stories which only made sense to me. It was also mentioned that
“Baaba…” was the first ever word I had uttered as a baby and slowly I started picking up
other comprehensible words in Malayalam from my parents and others around me.  When I
grew a little bit more older, another noticeable instance coming into mind is that, I was born a
left hander and when I reached around 4 or 5 years old, my parents forcefully made me shift
my dominant hand to my right hand because the left hand was apparently was associated to a
few bad omens. It was extremely difficult for me at first to accommodate to this change, but
later I was sent to handwriting coaching classes to fix this issue. This later did affect me in
my school too because I was slower than my peers in writing. My parents were not strict
about my academics as a child. In school, eventhough, I was terrible at Maths they did not
scold me for scoring low and what is suprising is that although marks did not matter to my
parents, as I grew up, I considered academics as very important. My parents used to just tell
me to ‘try my best’. But no matter how much I tried to study Mathematics I would bearly
pass for that subject, when my brother on the other hand would come home scoring a full.

The overall relationship with my family members is excellent. I love my family than any
other thing in the world. My dad provides for the entire family and bears almost all the
expenses. My mom makes sure we are provided with everything that is needed. Both of them
make an effort to make both my brother and I happy. According to Bronfenbrenner (1994), a
happy and friendly child is more likely to elicit supportive, loving responses from parents,
whereas a moody or easily distracted child is more likely to experience restriction and
punishment from parents.  These reciprocal interactions have a long-lasting effect on
development when they happen frequently across time (Collins et al., 2000; Crockenberg &
Leerkes, 2003b).

School and peers are another important aspect of the microsystem. The school I went to was
called “the choice school” where I spent 12 years of my life studying. From school, I still
remember in grade 1, my favorite teacher was Priya ma’am and I was always called the
teacher’s pet. Teachers are responsible for guiding the child in their early concepts and
developmental skills of life. For example, if teachers do not treat colleagues or other students
with respect, this gets imprinted in the child’s mind and it is likely that they pick up on these
behaviors. In class, I was always responsible for keeping the classroom neat and tidy (dusting
the board, collecting notebooks etc.)
which may have shaped how I was as a
child. I also remember when I shifted
from my preschool to 1st grade, there
were a lot of changes that took place that
actually made me feel like I was growing
up. Changing your old teletubbies bags
to buying new Barbie bags, getting new
sip-up bottles and hanging them around
your neck while going to school were all
so important to me in order to look good
as a child. 

Peers/ friends also deeply influence the child in their day to day interactions. My best friend
in grade 1 was Natasha Kurian, we would always sit together, play together and even eat
lunch together. Later, the next year Natasha had left school which at that time did make me
feel extremely sad and I was all alone in class which pushed me further to make other new
friends. After Natasha left school, it took me some time to make other friends. The sense of
belonging to other friend groups was a bit challenging. After coming back home from school,
I remember telling my mother that I did not want to go to school, because my friend leaving
school really impacted me, although now that I think of it she was not even a close friend of
mine. But for me at that age, these petty little things were precious and important.

And since I stayed in an apartment, I also had

another two of my friends as neighbours - two
of them were Abraham and Nisula, I remember
we used to play a few games like ‘ghost and the
graveyard, lock and key’ etc. with each other
and have food at each other’s homes. Those
were great memories indeed.

In addition to this, as part of the microsystem, social media also plays a role. Social media
was not regarded as a microsystem by Bronfenbrenner because they are not an interactive
setting for reciprocal interaction. However, social media can be considered a significant
socializer for the child. As a child, media usage would have also impacted me in a very
minute way, although I did not own cell phones when I was young, the influence from
watching television after school hours would have affected me in the way I perceived and
understood things at that age. Research has found that for most children, television affects
their academic performance poorly and children often themselves imitate the mannerisms of
the television character they watch (Olayinka.J, 2020)

 
The Mesosystem 

A Mesosystem is a network of interconnected microsystems that comprise children's life

getting inter related to their families, communities, schools, and other institutions. Children
have a better chance of thriving when the elements of the micro system maintain a regular
and fruitful connection between each other. An important concept in the mesosystem layer is
that of synergy, that is, “the interaction of
developmentally arousing or inhibitory
features and processes that may be present
in the environment”. For example, when I
was a child I used to love keeping birthday
parties for myself and inviting my friends
over. It used to make me feel special as a
child. I was glad that my parents approved
of my friends that I had at that time and they
used to host birthday parties for me where
my friends would come over and we would
have a great time together. Hence over
here, my parents who are part of my
microsystem have an amicable relationship
with my friends who are also a part of my microsystem and these instances of interaction
between the two influenced my development. Another example in my life that is a little more
towards the negative side would be that, my brother and I both us used to fight a lot as kids
and sometimes when things get too out of hand, my mom would just compare myself with
my other neighbours on how we have to become well- mannered and behaved like them.
Although it did not leave a huge negative mark on me when I grew older, I am sure at that
age I would have felt bad about myself if my parents kept comparing me with other kids my
age. From both of the above examples, we see an interplay between the elements of the
microsystems such as family, neighbours and friends. Bronfenbrenner (1994) conceptualized
that different systems may work together with each other or even against each other in an
individual’s life. For example, an uncongenial environment for children at home (for eg.
Abusive parents or children being unloved or neglected at home etc.) can be emotionally
draining for them and this can spill into the relationships they have with friends which may
become unhealthy too.  Thus, Bronfenbrenner suggests that through a process of engaging in
a growing mesosystem, a person’s worldview expands, raising their level of cognitive
complexities over time. 

The Exosystem

Another layer within Bronfenbrenner’s hierarchy of systems is the exosystem, which includes
all individuals and institutions that had an influence on the child even though their actual
contact with the child was minimal. The structures in this layer have an impact on the child’s
development by interacting with some structures in their microsystem (Berk, 2000).
Examples of entities within the exosystem include parents’ work settings, parents’ extended
families and friends, parents' economic situation, government agencies etc. Although children
may not have direct contact with social institutions like workplaces and neighborhoods,
Boyd, Bee, and Johnson (2008) contend that children still experience both positive and
negative effects from distant interactions that have an impact on their own microsystem.
From my childhood, two examples are appropriate here. When speaking to my mother about
my childhood, she had mentioned that a few months after I was born, my father’s elder
brother had an unexpected financial crisis that became difficult for the whole family. At that
time, my parents had resided with our family members as a joint family in our hometown. It
goes without saying that my father definitely had to also contribute a good amount to make
the situation better for my uncle. Although this incident did not affect my childhood in a very
direct way, it would have impacted me very indirectly because I am sure my parents would
have been more careful with spending money after this. They would have restricted
themsleves to only purchase items for me and my brother which were very immediately
necessary. Because the child is technically not part of a larger extended family, it does not
come under the child's microsystem's or mesosystem per se. This influence is then attributed
to the exosystem. Another example with respect to the exosystem had occurred in my
primary school years. I remember, it was our annual cultural day at school where I was
performing a group dance with my friends which was very exciting for me. Usually parents
are invited to see their kids perform and from my parent’s side, my father was unable to come
because he had his appointments at the hospital, it was just my mom who could come.
At that age it was difficult for me to accept that my
father was busy and that is the reason why he could
not make it. Seeing all my other friend’s parents
coming for the event and encouraging them did
make me feel left out.

At that time, I felt like my father did not value my

dance performance much, which I was extremely
looking forward to. Although he did not intend to
make me feel bad, it was damaging for me at that young age. Therefore the ecological
systems theory (1979) implies that although the child is not a part of the workplace system, it
is nevertheless possible for it to have an impact on them.

The Macrosystem 

The macrosystem is a layer that might be regarded as the child's outermost layer is his/her
environment.  While not being within a particular framework, this layer is composed of
cultural values, customs, and laws (Berk, 2000). The effects of the principles defined by the
macrosystem have a cascading influence throughout the interactions of all other systems. The
macrosystem comprises the most remote set of individuals, structures and organizations
which have a great influence over the person. Bronfenbrenner described the ways in which
the culture of a family emerges within the structure of the family in the microsystem. This is
then influenced by the mesosystem and exosystem layers of the individuals within that
family, for example- the child.  Culture is defined as the acquired or learned behavior that is
specific to the social setting in which a person grows up, it includes knowledge, beliefs, art,
morals, laws, traditions, and customs (Berns, R, 2013). People in India tend to have a strong
sense of pride in the distinctiveness and diversity of their culture. Being born and brought up
in the Indian cultural setting, there is a sense of harmony and unity in diversity that is being
celebrated by each individual. What I find most interesting is that Indians coexist peacefully
while upholding their diverse cultures, religions, ethics, and languages, each person observes
their own set of beliefs. Being an Indian, some of the cultural values deeply ingrained in us
since childhood would be diversity, modesty, adaptability and pride. Children being born into
collectivist cultures like India are shaped and taught to value other opinions and needs before
one’s own. Since when I was a child I was taught to become generous and helpful to others
even at the cost of yourself. I have lived all my life in kerala and I am a proud malayali,
Kerala is synonymous to home for me. Most of what I am is mostly shaped from what I have
learned from my family members in and around Kerala. Something specific that I remember
is that, it is more probable for the people staying in the southern parts of India to wake up
really early in the morning, as early as 4am and start their day. I personally have learned this
from my parents and family members since I was a child and even as an adult I prefer waking
up early and starting my day. As a child, I also remember my grandmother reciting a few
Malayalam proverbs like “Aana vaa polikkunathu
kandu annan vaa polikaruthu” which literally
translates into “know your capabilities, just
because someone is doing something
extraordinarily big doesn’t mean you have to too.
Everyone has their own ways of doing it” which I
believe did instill a bit of wisdom in me. Onam is
also a festival that has been very close to my heart
since I was small. Hence, it can be definitely said that the macrosystem may be thought of as
a societal blueprint for a particular culture or subculture (Bronfenbrenner, 2004). 

In addition to this in the macro system, the religious

community I belong to has also shaped my morals and
the way I think about things. I am a Christian and I
firmly believe in Jesus Christ.  I truly believe that a
person's religious beliefs play a significant role in the
creation of their self-identity and a collective identity
which was first introduced to us by our parents or close
relatives all of which have an impact on attitudes,
cultural norms, and individual behavior. As a child I
used to be actively involved in church gatherings and
festivities. The photo attached here was taken when I
was three years old performing as an angel in a drama at a church function.
The Chronosystem 

When the ecological systems theory was first developed, Bronfenbrenner did not take into
consideration time as an important factor in human development. He later added the temporal
aspect layer called the 'chronosystem' as a new addition to this theory. The chronosystem
takes into account changes or consistency through time in a person's characteristics as well as
in the environment they live in. As children grow older, they might respond to environmental
changes differently and possibly be better able to predict how those changes would affect
them. For example, research has shown that child development in children whose families
underwent a change in their financial position during the Great Depression differs greatly
from those whose families did not. According to Glen Elder and his colleagues (1974, 1979),
the long-term effects of the Depression differed depending on the child's age at the time.
Preadolescent children whose families experienced financial loss performed worse in school,
had less stable  work histories, and even as adults, displayed more emotional and social
difficulties than children of the same socioeconomic status from families who did not
experience financial loss. To use a more recent example, children born in the United States
before and after 9/11 may have quite different ideas about terrorism and safety compared to
other children.  Such negative impacts have been explained by Conger et al., (1994) as due to
the influence of economic hardship on the quality of parenting and subsequently on children's
psychological wellbeing. 

From the above mentioned, it is apparent that human development happens gradually as a
result of interactions between a person, other individuals, as well as with objects and ideas in
their immediate environment. To generate proximal processes that have a significant impact
on human development, interactions must be long-lasting and take place in the surrounding
environment of the individual.

Conclusion 

Numerous approaches have applied the ‘Ecological Systems Theory’ to understand

phenomena that are being observed today. Despite the fact that Bronfenbrenner developed his
theory to study human development, it has found extensively used in a variety of different
sectors, including health research. Another area where it’s application is seen is in the
workplace, where it can help managers better understand their workforce. Managers can gain
an understanding of the sources of employee satisfaction or dissatisfaction by observing the
influences particularly in the employee’s mesosystem and exosystems. Although,
Bronfenbrenner's model soon gained popularity and was acknowledged as an effective
framework for studying child development by psychologists, sociologists, and educators, like
all others, this theory too had a few limitations. Some researchers pointed out that it is unclear
the extent to which these systems can influence child development. Another limitation is that
there has been an increasing difficulty to empirically test this theory. 

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