While some children have everything going almost seamlessly for them, others encounter a hostile environment that affects their childhood development. The environment in which a child grows exposes them to risks and opportunities that affect their social, physical, and psychological development. Family, community, economic and political decisions, and culture bring a range of benefits and dangers to a child as they grow up. The ecological perspective of child development by Bronfenbrenner asserts that child development is affected by the system's five ecological levels that positively and negatively impact children's development, as seen in the movie The Joy Luck Club. The film was produced in 1993 and was named after Amy Tan's eponymous novel. It explores the tenacious bond between four mothers and each of their four daughters. The movie adheres to the principles and orientations of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective. It shows the multidimensional and life cycle perspective of Chinese Americans as seen through characters Suyuan Woo and the daughter and Lindo Jong.
Define Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Perspective, Including All Five (5) Levels of Systems, and Make a Note of Each of the Systems as They are Expressed in the Film
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Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory views child development as a complex system of relationships affected by various levels of the environment, starting from the immediate family and school to broad cultural views, customs, and laws. When studying a child's development, one is expected to explore both the child's development, their immediate environment, and their interaction with the larger environment. The ecological perspective is divided into five levels: the microsystem, the mesosystem, the ecosystem, the macrosystem, and the chronosystem.
The theory’s first level is the microsystem that deals with aspects of the environment that a child gets into direct contact with, among them parents, siblings, peers, and teachers. Bronfenbrenner asserts that the microsystem's relationship is bi-directional in that people influence the child in the environment to change their beliefs, behaviors, and actions ( Garbarino, 1992) . More so, the way children react to individuals in microsystems influences the way they treat them back. Interaction and relationships created in microsystems are personal and vital for fostering and supporting a child's development. Children who develop a strong nurturing relationship with their parents become positively influenced in their development. Differently, unaffectionate and distant relationships negatively impact childhood development. In t he Joy Luck Club, both close and a distant relationship between mothers and daughters is clear. In the first section, individuals give stories of how mothers sacrificed to save their children. An-mei remembers how she engaged in selling her body so that she could have a decent life despite their differences (Wang, 1993). Suyuan Woo gave up her life to save her twins during the war; unfortunately, she survived and lost her twins. Although the mothers tried to show love and affection to their daughters, their love was suffocating. The two groups never understood each other, which negatively affected the children’s development and, therefore, their future (Wang, 1993) . Mothers and daughters privately recall their past as girls and young women where they failed their mother in private and public, and to protect themselves from the future, they built walls. As noted by Bronfenbrenner, the daughter's behavior and actions were influenced by the relationship created with their mothers.
Exosystem is the third level of ecological model that show linkages between two or more settings. The setting affects the development of children indirectly. Bronfenbrenner argues that places and people that children have not directly interacted with the impact their thoughts, beliefs, and lives ( Garbarino, 1992) . At an exosystem level, parents make official decisions that affect the day-to-day experience of the children. In the film movie The Joy Luck Club , the four daughters' development is affected by different background settings. Jong Lindo explains how her parents decided to marry her at 12 years old, denying her the opportunity to grow her identity. While their daughters were born and raised up in American culture, their parents were born in Chinese culture, trying to monitor and teach their children while in America. For the young daughters, China is a foreign country they had never seen but knew about it from the shadowy setting of their mother's stories. According to the character June in the movie, her Chinese background affected her development. After her mother's death, June met her sisters to learn more about her Chinese background (Wang, 1993) . Although the four daughters were born in America, the Chinese background affected their development since their mothers always taught them morals on Chinese perspectives different from American.
The fourth component of the ecological system is the macrosystem that focuses on cultural elements like socioeconomic status, politics, poverty, and ethnicity that affect a child's development. The culture that children get immersed with affects their beliefs and perception of important life events ( Garbarino, 1992) . Unlike their mothers, the four daughters in the movie were born in a developed American culture where the society emphasized more on economic development to achieve the American Dream. America's political and economic system did not favor immigrants; the four daughters grew up unhappy in their childhood and young age. American society's socio-political organization failed to provide a motivating environment for minority races to develop their moral principles. As Chinese-American immigrants, the four mothers and their daughters grew up in a society where racism was high. They endured discrimination and humiliation from the white community, especially those from high social class, as seen through the character Lindo Jong's experience, who lived in poverty for many years. An-mei Hsu also loses status, got raped, and forced into the concubinage of wealthy Wu Tsing (Wang, 1993) . Suyuan Woo related how the Second War experience affected her youthful and middle adulthood development where she suffered physical and psychological torture after losing her twins. Other characters like Rose Waverly and Jing-mei suffer from discrimination and intimidation, which makes them lose self-esteem.
The last level analyzed by Bronfenbrenner is the chronosystem, which entails all environmental changes that occur over time and influence child development. The changes include various life transitions and historical events ( Garbarino, 1992) . In the movie, mothers were affected by the transition from Chinese to the English language, which further affected their daughters' development. The mothers used storytelling to circumvent communication barriers, although the daughters did not understand the meaning. The historical events of the Second World War affected Suyuan Woo's development. Across the movie, The Joy Luck Club, Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective is expressed in the four daughters' life development.
Choose Two (2) of the Main Characters and Then Apply a Multidimensional and Life Cycle Perspective to Discuss How Each System Interacts with These Characters to Inform Their Functioning and Development
Life is a journey, with each development posing a new challenge and opportunity for the human being. Multidimensional and life cycle perspectives of childhood development explore the development of humans from one stage to another. In the movie, The Joy Luck Club, Lindo Jong and Suyuan Woo's life development effectively illustrates the lifespan perspective and multidimensional perspective in development.
The lifespan perspective of developmental theory provides a framework for understanding each stage of life and how they are linked together to inform functioning and development from infancy to adulthood. Eric Erickson developed eight stages of psychosocial development and how they impact individual behavior. The first stage is basic trust versus mistrust, which occurs between birth and one year where they are treated with warmth or mistreated. The second stage is autonomy versus shame, which occurs between 1-3 three years, and the third initiative versus guilt between 3 to 6 years (Hutchison, 2015). The fourth stage is industry versus inferiority between 6 to 11 years, followed by identity versus role confusion, mainly at adolescence. The sixth stage is intimacy vs. isolation during young adulthood, generativity versus stagnation during middle adulthood, and lastly, ego integrity vs. repair at old age.
The multidimensional perspective of development involves the dynamic interaction of various factors like emotional, biological, physical, and psychosocial that affect development. The interaction of these factors influences individual development across various stages. According to Hutchison (2015), there is no single dimension of an individual or environment that will tell the entire story. Interaction of various dimensions folded into the construct of person-environment relationship helps to tell an individual's story. As children reach their puberty age, physiological and physical changes occur; thus, changes in the level of hormones. Cognitive ability changes allowing children to think abstractly and engage significant others in solving essential life issues. Emotional and social changes are also important multidimensional factors that impact development.
When she was born, Lindo Jong received warm treatment from her mother. Her microsystem was initially good but eventually changed in her adolescents. However, when she reached the age of 1 to 3, her mother began making all important decisions to give her American opportunity and ensure she does not lose her Chinese identity. Jong does not enjoy her childhood life since she was betrothed at infancy to Tyan-yu and got married at the age of twelve following a flood that destroyed their home (Wang, 1993) . The emotional experience in loveless marriage and oppression by her mother-in-law gave her powers of "invisible strength." When the time was ripe, she reveals them by making wise decisions to seek happiness and freedom. Jong's interaction with the mesosystem is poor since her mother failed to give her a good linkage between home, school, peers, and family. She got married before she had a chance to interact with school and her peers. Jong developed disequilibrium and conflicting emotions, which negatively affected her development in adolescents and young age. As an adolescent, she failed to develop her identity, which affected her young adulthood, where she felt isolated with freedom. The psychosocial conflict was also evidenced in her marriage as she faced intimidation from her wealthy in-laws. In her young adulthood, Lindo began to think abstractly and conceptualize her self-identity. From then, she divorced Tyan, moved to America, got a job in a fortune cookies factory, and later got married. However, she faced the challenge of transiting to American culture while preserving her Chinese. While in America, Jing was affected by her Chinese background despite having left China. Bronfenbrenner's exosystem level shows how the linkage between two places, in this case, American and Chinese culture affects development. “It's hard to keep your Chinese face in America. At the beginning, before I even arrived, I had to hide my true self" (Wang, 1993). At this time, she began to feel a sense of accomplishment and hope that she will have satisfied her desires by the time she gets into old age. Although Jingo faced hardship in the American macrosystem characterized by individualism, racism, and different political ideology, she struggled to survive in America. These different stages of development in Jong's life' influenced her functionality and development.
The other character is Suyuan Woo, who experienced conflicting situations that affected her development and personality. Although the movie does not retell her childhood memories, her young and middle adulthood was shaped by childhood experiences. However, based on her later experience told by her daughter and other friends, it shows her microsystem and mesosystem negatively affected her. Multidimensional perspective is evident in Suyuan Woo's development as she interacted with various emotional, physical, and psychosocial factors. The macrosystem level is evident in her experience during the war that affected her youthful development. Woo experienced war in young adulthood, a time when she was trying to build her personality. She was isolated during her adulthood as where she lived alone while her husband went to war. Starting from when she lived in Kwelin in the Chinese war, Suyuan experienced various conflicts that affected her functionality and development. Also, the physical pain experienced while escaping affected her functionality; hence ended up losing her twins. The war conflict affected Suyuan’s psychological development, especially after the loss of her twin (Wang, 1993) . Since that time, Suyuan's emotional and psychological functioning was affected, and she has had trouble adjusting to the situation. “…can you imagine how it is, to want to be neither inside nor outside, to want to be nowhere and disappear” (Wang, 1993 ). Since that time, Suyuan felt overwhelmed and trapped in hardship, decisions, and relationships. Suyuan 7ths stage of generativity versus stagnation was successful as he managed to develop the Joy Luck Club, which helped other Chines American mothers and daughters to build a better relationship. Chronosystemis evidenced in this stage where environmental changes like family structure and change in status affect development. Unfortunately, Woo died before she could reach the final stages of ego integrity versus despair. The dynamic interactions of psychosocial, physical pain, and emotions affected Suyuan Woo and Lindo Jong's functionality and development in the movie.
Compare and/or Contrast the Differences or Similarities Between the Environmental Factors of These Two Characters. Make Sure to Include the Environmental Press, the Interlocking Circles of Risk, and Elements of Resource and Resilience
Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective of development provides a lens through which to understand individuals. Every system comprises of risks, and it is through negotiating the system that one develops. All the five systems comprise risks, and the interaction between risks and resources helps individuals develop coping skills, change and grow (Hutchison, 2015). Although character Suyuan Woo and Lindo Jong in the movie experienced some similarities in hardship when growing and as Chinese Americans, they have different environmental factors press and interlocking circles of needs that impacted their development and coping skills. The environmental press model explores the outcome of the transaction or interaction between the person and the environment ( Walsh, 2008) . Human beings struggle to ensure optimal fits where their capacities are consistent with environmental demands and opportunities. Character Suyuan and Jong struggle to find an environment that helps them cope with biological and psychological risks.
Individuals experience the interlocking circles of risk that affect the quality of development. Suyin Woo escaped Kweilin Kweilin on foot during the Second World War with her twins. On the way, Suyuan experienced physical and psychological hardship that forced her to abandon her twins. In America, Suyuan struggled to a meager pool of resources to survive in a society when minority immigrants were discriminated against. The interlocking circles of risks in Lindo Jong's life include getting married at the tender age of 12 years and lived in an abusive marriage throughout her young age. However, she managed to escape from an unfortunate marriage. In America, she struggled to absorb American culture and also wanted to protect her Chinese culture. Despite the stressful situation that affected her self0esteem, Jong was resilient and coped with hardship to achieve happiness.
The psychosocial and spiritual person of Suyuan and Lindo enabled them to understand human behavior. According to Haight (1998 ), these two environmental press allow an individual to search for meaning, purpose in life and need to connect with the world. The process develops slowly and helps an individual respond effectively to a traumatic event. More so, the two characters showed resilience across the life cycle that enabled them to develop psychologically. Over time, Suyuan Woo managed to cope with the war's traumatic events and the loss of her twins. She refused to focus on her hardship and focused on creating happiness and success. Also, Jong managed to cope with the pain experienced during her adolescent stage in an abusive marriage, divorced and traveled to America to begin a new life.
The quality of an individual relationship with a primary caregiver during infancy affects neurological development and has a lasting effect on their mental and physical health. Stress indicates that an event that taxes adaptive resources might be psychological, biological, or social and requires unique coping and resilience skills ( Metzger, 2008). The biological environment of Lindo Jong affected her ability to circumscribe the parameter of human development and individual ability. Instead of getting moral support and guidance in her adolescent age, Jong's mother married her at twelve. Although she tried to cope with the stress by running away from China, the event continued to affect her later in life. Traumatic events that result from war or natural occurrence causes both psychological and physical damage. Dewan (2007) asserts that traumatic events like Hurricane Katrina have a lasting psychological and physical effect. Suyuan experience everlasting trauma during the war when she lost her twins. Although she managed to get well physically, her psychological resilience was overwhelmed.
Include Any Value Conflicts and Personal Biases That May Have Emerged for You While Viewing the Film
When watching the Joy Luck Club film, value conflict arises from the intergeneration and intercultural conflict of the American-born Chinese daughters and traditional Chinese mothers. Chinese culture and American culture are different, especially when dealing with children's upbringing. Chinese values allow parents to control their children’s lives by making major decisions like marriage, schooling, and care. Different, in America, children have their freedom of choice, and parents are not allowed to circle children into their decisions. However, the movie is very crucial for portraying the intercultural conflict between individuals caught between two cultures and generation differences. However, I was biased when watching the film, and I mainly sided with the four daughters since I have a similar intercultural conflict experience. At the end of the film, I managed to overcome bias and tried to understand the two generations' values. The film has effectively integrated Bronfenbrenner’s ecological perspective, multidimensional, life cycle perspective to show the characters' experience and how they manage to gain resilience and coping strategies to deal with the environmental press, the interlocking circles of risk.
References
Dewan, Shaila (2007) “Using crayons to exorcise Katrina” New York Times, 9/17/07
Garbarino, J. (1992). Children and families in the social environment.
Haight, W. L. (1998). “Gathering the spirit” at First Baptist Church: Spirituality as a protective factor in the lives of African American children. Social work , 43 (3), 213-221.
Hutchison, E.D. (2015) Dimensions of Human Behavior: Person and Environment, (5 th edition) California: Sage Publications. Part I: A Multidimensional Approach for Multifaceted Social Work.
Metzger, J. (2008). Resiliency in children and youth in kinship care and family foster care. Child welfare , 87 (6), 115.
Walsh, J. (2008). The psychosocial person: Relationships, stress, and coping. Hutchison (Ed.), Dimensions of human behavior: Person and environment .
Wang, W. (1993). The Joy Luck Club [DVD]. New York; Pan Asian Repertory Theatre.
