Chapter 1 - Proximal to Distal Environments in Child Development

Summary

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of tools one need to approach the multiple environments of childhood, including the measurement issues in child-environment interactions. These perspectives bring a deeper understanding and a greater coherence to an exposition of the environments of child development. The chapter reviews the important issue of what the child brings to his or her interactions with the several environments of development. The microsystem refers to the proximate level of environmental influences, in which variables in the immediate situation impact the child. Macrosystem characteristics of social class and cultural ideology shape children's development in profound ways. Although distal, macrosystem influences on child development are embedded in all of the proximal nested levels of the ecological systems model. It has been observed that perhaps the most influential factor in deciding the course of a person's development is the culture where the person is born.