Brofenbrenners Model of Child Development - Case Study Example

Introduction According to Brofenbrenner’s model the process of child development is to a great extent influenced by quality and quantity of interaction between a child and the objects and persons in his immediate environment (Adapted from Bronfenbrenner, 1998, p. 996). This theory basically highlights the importance of each layer of environment which has a dire affect on the effective growth of the child. The theory is also called ‘Bioecological System Theory’. It emphasize that the biology of the child is only its primary environment, the factors in its maturing biology like the family/community environment and societal undertaking also steers its development. He takes a pervasive view of the human development and states that humans do not develop in isolation. There are many other factors including their families, home, school, community and society comes in to play and affects the psychological development of humans in their own ways. The effective and positive interaction between these multilevel environments is the key to ample and satisfactory human development. According to Bronfenbrenner, child development can only be completely studied when it also takes in to account its interaction of the larger environment. Bronfenbrenner says that the current state of instability and unpredictability of family life can prove to be very destructive for the child (Addison, 1992). The recent trend of the breakdown and fractures in the immediate micro system handicaps the child from exploring more parts of his environment. It disables the child from having a consistent healthy and mutual interaction with important adults which are significant for them to develop in to complete and mature adults themselves. Children whose parents get divorced and they do not get the appropriate affirmations that should be present in the child/parent relationship starts to look for attention in inappropriate places. It translates in to anti-social behavior, lack of self-discipline, and inability to provide self-direction at the adolescence level (Addison, 1992). The Case Study Mr. and Mrs. David Brenda were residents of Perth which is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. They were British-born resident of Perth which houses more than 534,555 residents of English ethnic backgrounds (Office of Multi-cultural Interests, Western Australia, 2009). They had a twelve year old son named Bill when they underwent a divorce after fifteen years of somewhat rocky married status. Ms. Rebecca previously known as Mrs. David Brenda landed the custody of their only son. Post the divorce Bill was a regular twelve year boy with great interest in sports especially football. In fact he played for his Secondary School Soccer team. He also took keen interest in studies and his grades were above average and his teachers reported him to be a ‘well behaved boy with great potential’ in his annual reports. Micro System and the Divorce: Within three years of divorce and his father moving out, Bill was a totally different person. He gave up the soccer team, was accused of bringing drugs to school and was at verge of suspension. He had become hostile, aggressive and anti social. His grades were nowhere as good as they used to be. Bill’s mother was traumatized and felt helpless in this regard. Bill was also accused of drug and substance abuse, general misconduct with peers and teachers, display of aggressive and anti-social behavior. This behavior of Bill has also been researched about. The impulsiveness and the long term adjustment problems in adolescents is approximately 20 to 25 percent more in divorced families as compared to roughly 10 percent of children in first-marriage families (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002) It is also thought that the older adolescents between the age of 15-19 perceive and tackle the divorce of their parents more maturely than younger adolescents between the age of 12-15 who still rely and depend on their parents for provision and aid in extracurricular activities (Mainoo, 2008). This was the case with Bill, the sudden lost of the father figure made him hostile, anxious and depressed. Lerner & Steinberg (2004) reported that depression, worry, anxiety, low self confidence and self esteem which occur due to the parental divorce cannot be treated like a clinical disorder because it is an extension of the distress which the adolescent faces in the adaptive process post the parent’s divorce. It can be easily stated that there are other factors that played an important role in the internalized behavior problem of Bill since it lasted for three years. Meso-system and the Divorce The ecological perspective of Brofenbrenner’s model, states that child health is affected by multiple meso-systems, including the family, which is in turn affected by and from the micro-system, exo-system, and macro-system in which the child is interacts and associates (Bronfenbrenner, 1990). The holistic system of child/human development encompasses many environments. The father being a central and influential figure in the life of the child is the part of the child’s micro-system. The adolescent problems faced by Bill can also be associated with the absence of an influential father figure during the crucial growing up years. His contact with his father was minimal, both in quality and quantity (Ball, Moselle, Pedersen, 2007). Additionally the poor grades of Bill can also be associated with the shortcomings in his meso system. The academic performance of the children to a large degree is dependent on the involvement and concern shown by the fathers (Ball, Moselle, Pedersen, 2007). Since Bill’s father was literally out of his life post the divorce, it can be argued that his absence made Bill’s grades fall to the extent they did. The health model undertaken by PHAC states that education and literacy are two important determinants of health (Ball, Moselle & Pedersen, 2007). Since we have already associated the father’s involvement with the quality of education, it can be argued that the father’s involvement has an indirect role to play in the health issues of the children. Exo-system and the Divorce Bill’s mother being the single mom, now had to work long hours which further altered his lifestyle because he was accustomed to having his mom at home when he used to get back from home. According to Grych and Fincham (1992) the child may not be directly involved with his exo-system but the interaction between his own world and his exo-system can be of great influence of the child’s emotional health. There is evidence in literature and research of post divorce behavior of the adolescents. Parental divorce stresses the adolescent to no extent and consequently impedes the developmental process which ultimately affects their post divorce identity and psychosocial adjustment (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002; Amato, 2001). The psycho social adjustment to a large degree is dependent on the ample tackling of stress that comes with the parents’ divorce (Hetherington & Kelly, 2002; Amato, 2001). Another theoretical account of adolescent externalizing behaviors may be explained by the Freudian notion of displaced aggression. The theory of displaced aggression also explains the post divorce adolescent externalizing behaviors. It explains how the distressed young boys direct their frustrations away from the family and divorced mothers. The internal aggressive forces get targeted at the other people and objects (Sun & Li, 2002). Bill was largely ignorant of his mother, he hardly addressed her, spent most of the time outside his home. This theory of displaced aggression (Sun & Li, 2002) explains how adolescent boys becomes frustrated with family tension and mothers hostility but chooses to direct their frustration away from the family and the divorced mother. Macro-system and the Divorce The cultural view and role of Australian fathers is also of a dominating, integral and essential individual in the life of the children which Bill did not have which further alienated him from his macro environment. The culture of Australia regards the father as the primary bread winner of the household (Demography, Western Australia, 2004). It can be easily deduced that the primary contribution that the fathers make to the healthy growth of the kids is through their income generation which helps in provision of learning opportunities at all level of educations. They also help to provide the recreational, leisure and informal activities. Bill lacked the socio-economic security from his father since most common living pattern post the divorce is living with mothers and having less or no contact with their fathers (Demo, Supple, Henley, Pasley, Johnson, 2007). Chrono-system and the Divorce It is also shown through research that the young adults who have their father figure present in their lives resist the lure of substance abuse more than the children from single parent families. So, a positive father figure promotes positive health practice which results in lower negative health related outcomes (Ball, Moselle, Pedersen, 2007). The case of the Bill fits in this scenario perfectly. Bill’s father left almost immediately post the divorce. Since he lacked any close connection with his father post the divorce, the father failed to exert any influence in the anti-drug behavior of Bill and he was seen experimenting with drugs. Parental divorce is one of the major social problems of the current times. The policy makers and professionals are trying their best to get insight in to the phenomena of psychological adjustment of adolescents. The number of the Australian couple ending up in divorce has raised so much so that it is estimated that 46% of the marriages will end up in divorce (Australian Bureau Statistics, 2004). In many instances the divorce is not the end of a marriage but the breakdown and separation of the family unit also needs to be acknowledged in order to help the family make necessary adjustments. A reactive coping technique is recommended by Spencer et al (2006) which undertakes the problem focused approach and also incorporates emotional and social aspects of the individual. It strives to compensate for the harm and loss that the individual pertains as a result of the parental divorce. It can be made mandatory in the divorce law of Australia to make the parent looking for divorce to take a divorce mediation or parent education program which is the norm in many states of US (Grych and Fincham 1992). These programs can work to enhance the understanding on the part of the divorcing parents to take in to account the feelings and emotional turmoil of the children who are suffering much more than them. These programs can focus on conflict management and maintaining healthy relationship with the children. If the parents can be educated about the dire effects of their life changing decisions on the children, they will be better equipped then, to impede the negative effects of divorce on the children to some extent (David et al, 2007). There is also a dire need to de-stigmatize the divorce. The most of the social adjustment problems that children face at school and amongst peer groups is due to the fact there is a great cultural emphasis on the sanctimony of marriage and disapproval of divorce. Another way to alleviate the negative effect of divorce on young adults is to counsel them and familiarize them with normative process of divorce and help them through it. It was suggested by the David et al (2007) to seek help from the scholars, and personnel trained in supporting divorcing parents and their respective children in helping build relationship and reduce the feeling of stigma. Another way to allay negative feelings related to divorce, then, would be to counsel children regarding the normative process of divorce. They should be made aware that they are not alone as children of divorced parents. They should be educated regarding the healthy functioning of many divorced families. Finally, scholars in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia have suggested that social service personnel and officials of the courts could be trained to be supportive of divorcing parents and their children as a means to strengthen family relationships and reduce feelings of stigma. The schools as institutions and teachers as caring individual can work to provide a safe haven to the children who help in building healthy relationship with them and extend a helping hand to those children to welcome and nurture them (Hines, 2007). Bronfenbrenner would also propose fostering relationships with children as individuals at all levels; parents, teachers, mentors and legislators in best interest of the society (Bronfenbrenner, 1990). It is logical that if the research has shown that psychological outcomes and stress almost always follow a divorce, then stress buffers in the shape of social support are there to somewhat reduce the negative impact. There is no dearth of Counseling Centre and family help institutions in Perth. There are practitioners with specialization, training, experience and expertise in different areas of family therapy available in Perth who can help Bill and Rebecca. The Mt Lawley Counselling Center in Perth offers help regarding child and adolescent issues. It claims to amply cater to the issues of depression, anxiety, stress, separation and other relationship issues including parenting issues. Bill mother can approach this center to get support and insight in to strategies about building strong relationship with Bill and help him through this ordeal and cope better with this family separation. Additionally there is ‘Relationships Australia’ which arranges courses and seminars for families to get support and solve any problems. The courses offered are about family skills and parenting courses for parents of young children, teenagers. The best thing is that they have specialized courses for parents who have been separated or single parents. Bill’s mother can make use of these courses to help overcome the issues her family of two is currently facing. Additionally there are many other institutions and NGO’s getting government funding which are working to reduce the divorce rate of 2.2 divorces per 1,000 population and 46 divorces per 100 marriages. The duration of marriage term was found to be 12.8 years in 2004, which was less than the 13.2 recorded in 2003 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004). The institutions which can contact include Anglicare in Western Australia which is in fact focusing on the emotional wellbeing of children during the turbulent times of divorce and separation of the parents. There is also Ngala, Community Link and Network and Centre Care which can be approached to get help for family issues in Western Australia and Perth. The fee structures of these institutions vary according to the services offered. The maximum fee was $ 100 per session. However there are discounts for concession card holders. They can be approached almost immediately for support and help by booking an appointment. The fact is that there are ample resources available for the couples of Perth to make use of and alleviate their families from the stress and trauma that encompasses the separation and divorce. The resources of Perth can work wonders for the couples having trouble at marriage by providing couple’s counseling courses. The fee structure is also quite reasonable. It is quoted on most of the websites of the Counseling Centre and family help institutions that they book appointments even online too. Conclusion: In this article the theory of Brofenbrenner’s was applied on the state of mind of the young adults of divorced parents to get insight and understanding of the thinking processes, perception and behavior patterns of these young children. The holistic view of the Brofenbrenner theory implies that there are many external environments that come in to play when the children are going through a parental divorce. At the personal level the children blame themselves for the divorce and are resentful towards their parents for putting them through this and at the same time they are relieved that it is over. They also feel frustrated at having to choose between their parents and ultimately living with one of them. A case study of divorcing parents was formulated and the post divorce attitude and behavior of the offspring was analyzed to understand the underlying factors and motives behind those behavior and actions. It is no doubt that the children suffer equally if not more than the parent themselves in the whole turmoil. However there are many ways in which the negative effects can be alleviated and the children can be made to understand the normative pattern of the divorce and their healthy upbringing in the face of a divorce can be ensured. References Addison, J. T. (1992). Urie Bronfenbrenner. Human Ecology, 20(2), 16-20. Amato. P. R. (2001). Children of divorce in 1990s: An update of the Amato and Keith (1991) meta-analysis. 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(2002) Children’s well-being during parents’ marital disruption process: A pooled time-series analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 472-488 The People of Western Australia- Statistics from 2008 census. Office of Multicultural Interests; Department of Local Government. 2009. Read More