Introduction
When learning details about an individual’s life, one may become interested in knowing what factors have led that person to those specific outcomes. Indeed, numerous external and internal elements play significant roles in shaping people’s lives and their development. Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory refers to several environmental settings that influence one’s development, including the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem, the macrosystem, and, in later versions, the chronosystem. This paper aims to review a case study scenario and address the two listed levels, suggesting how the individual’s life became such.
Case Summary
Dylan, a 45-year-old man, has struggled with heroin addiction since adolescence, leading to repeated stays in rehab and prison, school dropout, and loss of contact with his one-year-old daughter due to ongoing substance use. Although he uses multiple drugs, opioids are his primary addiction. His twin brother, Daniel, is stable and successful, married with three children and a business. Raised in a supportive middle-class family, Dylan showed anxiety and difficulty with change early on, while Daniel adapted easily to new situations.
Case Analysis
According to the scenario, Dylan has a heroin addiction and other antisocial behaviors. Unlike his twin brother, Daniel, Dylan has always found it challenging to fit in society, becoming anxious in new circumstances, struggling with change, and having unreliable behavior.
Microsystem
The first layer to address is the microsystem, which includes the individual and their immediate surroundings. According to Donelli and Matas (2020), genetics is also included in this system. Overall, it is possible to suggest that the twins in the scenario are fraternal, meaning they share only half their DNA.
In this case, Dylan might have inherited a higher probability of becoming addicted, and this is likely to be true if some of their close relatives had a history of addiction. Poor coping skills are also attributed to the development of addictions (Addictions and Recovery, 2021). Supposing that one of the parents is less socially active and has lower emotional intelligence, these traits might have appeared in Dylan.
Another component of the microsystem is close relationships with other people. Although it is mentioned in the scenario that the twins grew up in a suburban area and had numerous gatherings with their neighbors, it is not indicated that the brothers had the same friends. Considering Dylan’s poor social skills, one may suggest that he lacked strong friendships and could not share his feelings with his parents. According to Flora (2022), precisely a lack of positive communication or frequent interactions with antisocial individuals increases one’s predisposition to drug addictions. The scenario does not state whether the twins were close in their childhood and adolescence; if not, Dylan might have fallen under the influence of teenagers with adverse behaviors and habits.
Mesosystem
The second layer to review is the mesosystem, as it is exciting to analyze the relationships between social workers, school educators, and the twins’ parents. In the case study, it is written that Dylan dropped out of high school at seventeen. Therefore, one might ask about the involvement and presence of teachers, social workers, and parents in his life and his challenges. Research indicates that close and mutual connections between the family and school increase adolescents’ academic engagement and improve adults’ chances of promptly preventing or noticing any issues in their kids’ development (Rattenborg et al., 2019). Therefore, if Dylan’s teachers and parents had stronger relationships and communicated with social workers or psychologists about the boy’s antisocial behaviors, they would have helped him at an early stage of addiction development and prevented him from dropping out of school.
Conclusion
To conclude, numerous factors have resulted in the individual’s inability to combat his drug addiction. Firstly, as per the microsystem’s rules, Dylan might have a genetic predisposition to developing addictions, and his poor coping skills have probably contributed to this risk factor. It is also possible that he had no friends or was impacted by adolescents with adverse behaviors. Secondly, in the mesosystem, there is a supposed lack of collaboration between Dylan’s parents and teachers. If their relationships were stronger, they would have noticed Dylan’s issues and addressed them promptly.
References
Addictions and Recovery. (2021). The genetics of drug and alcohol addiction. Web.
Donelli, I., & Matas, G. (2020). Ecological systems theory:(Re) constructing identity in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Zbornik Radova Filozofskog Fakulteta u Splitu, 13, 111-130.
Flora, K. (2022). A review of the prevention of drug addiction: Specific interventions, effectiveness, and important topics. Addiction and Health, 14(4), 288-95.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2019). Genetics and epigenetics of addiction DrugFacts. NIDA. Web.
Rattenborg, K., MacPhee, D., Walker, A. K., & Miller-Heyl, J. (2019). Pathways to parental engagement: Contributions of parents, teachers, and schools in cultural context. Early Education and Development, 30(3), 315-336.