Ecology and Disordered Behavior: An Overview of Perspectives and Assumptions (From Understanding Troubled and Troubling Youth, P 105-127, 1990, Peter E Leone, ed. -- See NCJ-124182)

• NCJ Number: 124188
• Author(s): E J Trickett; S F Zlotlow
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 23 pages
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Publication Type: Research (Theoretical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This description of the ways in which researchers in ecological and community psychology have viewed the social contexts that influence adolescents emphasizes the implications of these perspectives for understanding deviant behavior in these youth.

Abstract

These perspectives view the social context as an active and organized influence on behavior. Three contrasting perspectives of the social context are the ecological metaphor developed by Kelly, the social ecology perspective developed by Moos, and the behavior setting approach to ecological psychology developed by Barker. A major perspective on individual behavior is offered by Bronfenbrenner, who asserts that individual behavior varies from setting to setting and that behaviors adaptive in one setting may be maladaptive in others. These perspectives suggest the desirability of redesigning the social context to improve the way in which individuals function, designing interventions so that they strengthen the resources of the setting in which they take place, including environmental as well as individual impacts in evaluating ecological interventions. 60 references.