Solved: Effect of Exo-System and Macro-System on Child Care Book Chapters (1 and 2) Review

Exo-system and Macro-system Factors

The experience of an individual, considered from an ecological viewpoint, is nested within interrelated systems. For example, face-to-face connections, such as child-care settings or families, characterize micro-systems. The mesosystem encompasses different microsystems and the methods or relationships that unite or combine them. The mesosystems occur within the broader framework of the exo-system (Marshall, 2004). The latter are those backgrounds in which youngsters do not directly take part but that impact their parents’ lives. It also influences other adults in the child’s world, such as government agencies, workplaces of parents, as well as educational institutions that train child-care providers and teachers. The interactions between various macro-systems, such as values and beliefs, and exo-system, including parental employment, substantially influence the development of youngsters in childcare.

Influence on Child Care

Various macro-systems and exo-system factors have an impact on access to child care. The ecosystem consists of the environment that influences youngsters, although they are not directly part of that setting. The concept encompasses factors, such as governing policies and parental employment affecting childcare. The work of the parents, particularly the mother’s job, directly influences the child’s care. For example, childcare facilities in the United States function based on working mothers’ conditions (Marshall, 2004). Conversely, the government’s policies control access and healthcare cost through legislation. On the other hand, the macro-system dynamics that influence the care of children include parental faces, geographical location, and family organization. The stated aspects influence the pronouncement that parents make. Similarly, the age of a child affects the quality of healthcare provided. Hence, the chosen childcare considering these elements, impacts the youngster negatively or positively.

Effect on Families

The exo-system and macro-system affect the members of the population in various ways. However, the most impacted are families and women. As an illustration, the macro-system affects families differently. Nevertheless, low-income households are significantly influenced by the quality of childcare (Marshall, 2004). Families with low earnings make decisions based on the cost and not the quality of acquiring better childcare. In this case, the reason is that the household structure does not allow them to access quality childcare for their youngsters. On the other hand, exo-systems, in most instances, impact women. The mentioned group is forced to seek employment in regions where they can access childcare. In this regard, their work hours will define the quality of healthcare they will receive. Therefore, they will be forced to work for a few hours in a scheme where there is a lack of organizations that are aligned with the parent’s working conditions.

Reducing the challenges experienced in healthcare requires the implementation of different values within a community. Some cases of these principles comprise the following ones: community empowerment, wellness of family and individuals, collaboration, social justice, and a sense of the community (Kloos, Hill, Thomas, Wandersman, & Dalton, 2012). The mentioned models are recommendations that would enhance the well-being of families; in this case, women and low-income households cannot acquire childcare. At the same time, well-being entails accomplishing personal objectives. The community can adopt the values in question to strengthen families and, in turn, allow them to make choices on conditions, such as the life of their youngsters and quality, and not on wealth or family structure. In brief, the connections in the workplace and help groups will advance childcare quality and access, while the sense of community will promote commitment and interdependence to relationships that enhance communal unity.

Conclusion

All in all, the family is the most fundamental unit that impacts a child’s biological, psychological, and social development. The childcare and family microsystems are linked because children inhabit both of them. The family-childcare mesosystem functions within a broader framework of the parental employment exo-system. Importantly, the exo-system and mesosystem function within the basis of a macro-system of cultural and societal practices and beliefs. Thus, society can best improve the quality of early childcare for all youngsters by incorporating societal objectives of supporting the empowerment of women, self-sufficiency of the economy, and healthy households.

References

Kloos, B. R., Hill, J., Thomas, E., Wandersman, A., & Dalton, J. H. (2012). Community psychology: Linking individuals and communities. Belmont: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Marshall, N. L. (2004). The quality of early child care and children’s development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13(4), 165-168.