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Developmental Psychology
1986,
Vol. 22, No.
6,723-742
Copyright 1986
by
the American Psychological Association,
Inc.
0012-1649/86/S00.75
Ecology of the Family as
a
Context
for
Human Development:
Research Perspectives
Urie Bronfenbrenner
Cornell University
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 inter-
action 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 commu-
nities;
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 intra-
familial
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 fam-
ily
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 influ-
ences
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
se-
ries of progressively more sophisticated scientific paradigms for
investigating the impact of environment on development. These
paradigms provide
a
useful framework for ordering and analyz-
ing studies bearing on the topic of this review. At the most gen-
eral level,
the
research models vary simultaneously along
two
dimensions. As applied to the subject
at
hand, the first pertains
This review
is
based
on a
longer background paper prepared
at the
request
of
the
Human Learning and Behavior Branch
of
the
National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development in connection with
the development of their
Five
Year Plan for Research.
I am indebted t6 the following colleagues
for
their constructive criti-
cism of the original document: Josephine
Arastah,
Mavis
Hetherington,
Richard Lerner, Jeylan
T.
Mortimer, Joseph H. Pleck, Lea Pulkinnen,
Michael Rutter, Klaus Schneewind, and Diana Slaughter. Appreciation
is also expressed to Gerri Jones for typing innumerable revisions of the
manuscript.
Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Urie Bron-
fenbrenner, Department
of
Human Development
and
Family Studies,
Cornell University, Ithaca,
New
York 14853.
to
the
structure
of
the external systems that affect
the
family
and the manner in which they exert their influence. The second
dimension relates
to
the degree
of
explicitness
and
differentia-
tion accorded
to
intrafamilial processes that are influenced
by
the external environment.
External Systems
Affecting
the Family
Research paradigms
can be
distinguished
in
terms
of
three
different environmental systems that can serve as sources of ex-
ternal influence on the family.
Mesosystem models. Although
the
family
is the
principal
context
in
which human development takes place,
it
is but one
of several settings
in
which developmental process can
and do
occur. Moreover, the processes operating in different settings are
not independent
of
each other.
To
cite
a
common example,
events
at
home
can
affect
the
child's progress
in
school,
and
vice versa. Despite the obviousness of this fact,
it
was
not
until
relatively recently that students
of
development began
to em-
ploy research designs that could identify the influences operat-
ing,
in
both directions, between the principal settings
in
which
human development occurs.
The
term mesosystem
has
been
use
to
characterize analytic models
of
this
kind (Bronfenbren-
ner, 1979). The results
of
studies employing this type
of
para-
digm
in
relation
to the
family
are
summarized below,
in the
section "Mesosystem Models."
Exosystem
models.
The psychological development
of
chil-
dren
in
the family
is
affected
not
only
by
what happens
in the
other environments in which children spend their time but also
by what occurs
in
the other settings
in
which their parents live
their
lives,
especially in a place that children seldom enter—the
parents' world of work. Another domain to which children tend
to have limited access
is the
parents' circle
of
friends
and ac-
quaintances—their social network. Such environments "exter-
nal"
to
the developing person are referred
to as
"exosystems."
The
findings
of investigations employing exosystem designs are
reviewed
below,
in the section "Exosystem Models."
723
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