A broader approach to research in hu- j man development is proposed that focuses on the pro- \ gressive accommodation, throughout the life span, between the growing human organism and the changing environments in which it actually lives and grows. \ The latter include not only the immediate settings containing the developing person but also the larger social contexts, both formal and informal, in which these settings are embedded. In terms of method, the approach emphasizes the use of rigorousj^d^igned exp_erjments, both naturalistic and contrived, beginning in the early stages of the research process. The chang- ing relation between person and environment is con- ceived in systems terms. These systems properties are set forth in a series of propositions, each illus- trated by concrete research examples.

Toward an experimental ecology of human development.

This review collates and examines critically a theoretically convergent but widely dispersed body of research on the influence of external environments on the functioning of families as contexts of human development. Investigations falling within this expanding domain include studies of the interaction of genetics and environment in family processes; transitions and linkages between the family and other major settings influencing development, such as hospitals, day care, peer groups, school, social networks, the world of work (both for parents and children), and neighborhoods and communities; and public policies affecting families and children. A second major focus is on the patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course as these affect and are affected by intrafamilial processes. Special emphasis is given to critical research gaps in knowledge and priorities for future investigation. The purpose of this article is to document and delineate promising lines of research on external influences that affect the capacity of families to foster the healthy development of their children. The focus differs from that of most studies of the family as a context of human development, because the majority have concentrated on intrafamilial processes of parent-child interaction, a fact that is reflected in Maccoby and Martin's (1983) recent authoritative review of research on family influences on development. By contrast, the focus of the present analysis can be described as "once removed." The research question becomes: How are intrafamilial processes affected by extrafamilial conditions? Paradigm Parameters In tracing the evolution of research models in developmental science, Bronfenbrenner and Crouter (1983) distinguished a series of progressively more sophisticated scientific paradigms for investigating the impact of environment on development. These paradigms provide a useful framework for ordering and analyzing studies bearing on the topic of this review. At the most general level, the research models vary simultaneously along two dimensions. As applied to the subject at hand, the first pertains

http://rinaldipsych.synthasite.com/resources/Bronfenbrenner.pdf

Ecology of the family as a context for human development: research perspectives

The world report on violence and health.

Attachment--and loss.

▪ Abstract Socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most widely studied constructs in the social sciences. Several ways of measuring SES have been proposed, but most include some quantification of family income, parental education, and occupational status. Research shows that SES is associated with a wide array of health, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes in children, with effects beginning prior to birth and continuing into adulthood. A variety of mechanisms linking SES to child well-being have been proposed, with most involving differences in access to material and social resources or reactions to stress-inducing conditions by both the children themselves and their parents. For children, SES impacts well-being at multiple levels, including both family and neighborhood. Its effects are moderated by children's own characteristics, family characteristics, and external support systems.

Socioeconomic status and child development.

The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design: by Urie Bronfenbrenner Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979, 330 + p.

Based on multiple regression analysis to identify the socioeconomic, demographic, and attitudinal correlates of neighborhood differences in the rate of child abuse and neglect, a pair of neighborhoods matched for socioeconomic level was selected, one high risk, the other low risk. Interviews with expert informants ranging from elementary school principals to mailmen were used to develop neighborhood profiles. Samples of families were drawn from each neighborhood and interviews conducted to identify stresses and supports, with special emphasis on sources of help, social networks, evaluation of the neighborhood, and use of formal family support systems. The results lend support to the concept of neighborhood "risk." Families in the high-risk neighborhood, though socioeconomically similar to families in the low-risk neighborhood, report less positive evaluation of the neighborhood as a context for child and family development. Furthermore, they reveal a general pattern of "social impoverishment" in comparison with families in the low-risk neighborhood.

High-risk neighborhoods and high-risk families: the human ecology of child maltreatment.

This paper seeks to place the phenomenon of child maltreatment in the perspective qf family development. While it is concerned with the problem of neglect, it addresses child abuse most directly. The paper focuses on necessary and sufficient conditions and the research implications of an ecological perspective. Maltreatment as a consequence qf stressful role transition is the major theme explored in the paper. The role of cultural support for the use of physical force against children, and the inadequacy and inadequate use of family support systems are two factors identified as necessary conditions for child maltreatment. The paper thus attempts to explicate a model of child maltreatment as a problem of family asynchrony-i.e., as a mismatch of parent to child and of family to neighborhood and community. The problem of child maltreatment is thus best understood as an issue in the study of the ecology qf family life, the development of the caregiver role and the provision of effective feedback for parents.

The human ecology of child maltreatment: A conceptual model for research.

The first edition of this volume successfully applied Bronfenbrenner's "micro-systems" taxonomy to childrearing and family life. Emphasizing how forces in the environment influence children's behavior, Garbarino has staked out an intermediate position between the psychoanalytic and the systems approach to human development. Taking cognizance of new research and of changes in American society, Garbarino has once again carefully analyzed the importance of children's social relationships. For this wholly revised second edition, he has incorporated a greater emphasis on ethnic, cultural, and racial issues.

Children and families in the social environment

Childhood is ideally a time of safety, marked by freedom from the economic, sexual, and political demands that later become part of adult life. For many children, however, particularly those who live in our inner cities, childhood is increasingly a time of danger. The urban war zones of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington. D.C., are not unlike the war zones of Beirut, Belfast, and Mozambique. In both worlds, children grow up with firsthand knowledge of terror and violence. This book examines the threat to childhood development posed by living amid chronic community violence. It shows caregiving adults such as teachers, psychologists, social workers, and counselors how they can work together to help children while they are still children--before they become angry, aggressive adults. Drawing on their extensive fieldwork in war zones around the world, the authors explore the link between a child's response to growing up in an atmosphere of violence and danger, and the social context established for that child by community and caregivers. They reveal the need for establishing predictable, structured, safe environments for children and they show how school-based programs, by providing children with the continuity and regularity that is otherwise lacking in their lives, can enhance children's natural resilience and help ameliorate some of the long-term developmental consequences of living in danger. In addition to providing firsthand accounts of how children growing up in an atmosphere of violence address their situations, the authors also examine the special concerns that relate to the training and support of teachers who deal not only with the violence in the lives of the children theyteach, but also with their own personal safety and emotional response to their students' traumas.

James Garbarino

Papers

The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design: by Urie Bronfenbrenner Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979, 330 + p.

High-risk neighborhoods and high-risk families: the human ecology of child maltreatment.

The human ecology of child maltreatment: A conceptual model for research.

Children and families in the social environment

Children in Danger: Coping with the Consequences of Community Violence