TABLE 3.
Definitions of Each System Level Within Bronfenbrenner Ecological Model
| System Level | Definition* |
| Microsystem | The setting containing the individual, defined as a place in which the individual engages in particular activities within a particular role. |
| Mesosystem | The interrelations between the microsystem settings of the individual, ie, “system of microsystems” |
| Exosystem | A system of social structures in which the individual does not reside, but is nonetheless influenced and impinged on by activities within this system. |
| Macrosystem | The overarching institutions that determine the culture and subculture of the society of which the lower systems (micro, meso, and exo) are concrete manifestations. |
| Chronosystem | The historical period through which the individual lives, and whose developmental life course is shaped by conditions and events occurring during this historical period |