This paper puts into context Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. The paper takes a close look at a Winnipeg lady who allegedly attempted to murder her two sons. In accordance with Bronfenbrenner’s framework, the paper focuses on an inquiry into the microsystems, mesosystems, macrosystems and chronosystems that affected the lady’s childhood development. Bronfenbrenner’s theory offers the best opportunity to understand the context in which people draw their actions from.
Analysis
Bronfenbrenner’s framework also known as bioecological systems theory looks at the development of children in the context of relationships that form around their environment. A child’s environment could be looked at in the form of several layers. There are six layers, which include: microsystems, mesosystems, exosystems, macrosystems and chronosystems (Thomason, 2008, p. 21).
Microsystem is the closest layer to the child as it includes structures that are in direct contact with the child. It involves interactions between the child and her immediate surrounding; family, neighbors and school environment (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2012). The relationships formed at this stage have bi-directional influence. For example, a child’s beliefs and behaviour is affected by the parents and conversely, the child may affect the beliefs and behaviour of the parents. It is suspected that the woman in question was worried about flying her husband from a refugee camp in Ethiopia to Winnipeg. She was worried about having to work full-time to support her husband and leave the children alone. This could have led to psychological pressure.
A family friend reported that the lady could be suffering from a mental illness. The mental disorder could be as a result of stressful life that the lady has gone through in the past. The lady is believed to have come from Somalia, and her husband is still a refugee in Ethiopia. This could have been pushed further by the fact that immigrants find it hard to settle in Canada. As a result, they end up being isolated for most of the time due to cultural barriers; language barrier being the most prominent. The lady in question has limited knowledge of English.
Mesosystems involve a look at the interaction between the structures in a microsystem. This, for example, could involve the relationship between parents and teachers (Kail & Cavanaugh, 2012, p. 56). According to the neighbors, the woman remained isolated most of the time. Her limited ability to express herself in English means that she did not interact a lot with neighbors.
Consequently, psychological pressure could have developed into a mental disorder. Without anyone to take out her frustrations on, the lady could have been tempted to take out her two sons. The neighbors do not seem to have an idea on what kind of relationship the suspect had with her sister, who was also stabbed when trying to intervene.
Exosystem is the layer in which a child has no direct function. However, this layer affects the development of a child in the sense that there is an interaction between the structures in this layer and a microsystem (Bonnes & Secchiaroli, 1995, p. 54). For example, how parents are scheduled to work could affect the development of a child. Although the child is not involved, there is a negative or positive influence at this stage. The convict’s family had moved from Somalia to Winnipeg in 2005. Although not much is said about her family background, her upbringing in Somalia could have a tremendous influence on her warlike behavior. It is common knowledge that many people lose their lives daily in the war torn country. A psychologist would not ignore this fact because it is likely to affect her upbringing.
Macrosystem is an outer layer in which the customs, laws and culture comes, into play, to influence a child’s development (Basit & Tomlinson, 2012). Activities in this layer may cascade down into the other layers, as well. For example, if the culture dictates that parents are responsible for the upbringing of their children, then little resources may be provided to help in the upbringing since parents are solely responsible. This is likely to influence the parents’ ability or inability to provide all the assistance required by the children in the microsystems context.
At Winnipeg, parents are expected to take care of their children’s needs without any external support. Social norms also dictate the same thing. Little or no support is given to immigrants who could be struggling to provide for their families. This is a situation which the director of Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization of Manitoba talked about when interviewed by the press. Without structures of supporting new immigrants in Canada and their families, it is possible to get issues after they reach a crisis point. There is also lack of awareness of the existence of such services. This is an issue that social policy makers may have to think more about to avoid a relapse of such scenarios.
Chronosystem brings in the concept of time in relation the child’s environment (Sudbery, 2009). Structures involved here could either be internal or external. Internal elements could involve psychological changes that take place as a child ages (Stewart, 2010). Therefore, as the child gets older, they may react differently to their environment. The stabbing of the two sons comes at a time when the accused lady is thought to be suffering from a mental illness. It is reported that she remained withdrawn for most of the periods, and she looked upset. She was also apprehensive about bringing along her husband to Canada from an Ethiopian refugee camp.
The psychological changes are likely to have come about due to the change of environment. The going has been tough for her in Canada, considering the fact that she had limited knowledge of English. As a result, interacting with other people was difficult as she could into express herself well in English. Consequently, she kept to herself most of the time. When this is combined with the pressure to provide for her sons, and flying her husband from Ethiopia to Canada, it must have been a tall order which pushed her into depression.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is quite clear that the suspect experienced some psychological disorder which was not diagnosed early enough. The new environment in Canada was just too harsh for her. The fact that the suspect did not have close neighbors to interact with could have pushed her into depression. In the wake of such events, social policy makers could perhaps think of providing psychological and material support to new immigrants to ensure that they adjust well to their new environments. Support groups such as the immigrants and refugees groups could also come to deliver such services.
References
Basit, T. N., & Tomlinson, S. (2012). Social Inclusion and Higher Education. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Bonnes, M., & Secchiaroli, G. (1995). Environmental Psychology:A Psycho-Social Introduction. New York : Sage.
CBC News . (2010, June 4). Winnipeg mom charged with stabbing kids. Retrieved May 20, 2012, from CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2010/06/04/mb-children-stabbed-winnipeg.html
Kail, R. V., & Cavanaugh, J. C. (2012). Human Development:A Life-Span View. Stamford : Cengage learning .
Stewart, J. (2010). Supporting Refugee Children:Strategies for Educators. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
Sudbery, J. (2009). Human Growth and Development. New York : Taylor & Francis.
Thomason, D. L. (2008). Physical Education Activities Scale: The Development of an Instrument to Measure Adolescent Perceptions of School Physical Education Activities. Ann Arbor : Proquest.
