Revisiting ecological systems theory: Practice implications for juvenile justice youth.

Abstract

Youth involved in the juvenile justice system face a multitude of challenges and have many psychosocial needs that span across different contexts and service systems. Practitioners working within the juvenile justice population may thus struggle to determine how to navigate such needs and provide effective care. This article describes how the application of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory may be particularly useful to elucidate therapeutic considerations to working with juvenile justice involved youth. We provide descriptions of each subsystem within Bronfenbrenner’s model and how they relate to the unique needs of justice-involved youth, provide a case example to illustrate relevant interventions within each subsystem that focuses on existing setting strengths, and end with practitioner recommendations to address psychological well-being with the juvenile justice population.

A new wave of context: Introduction to the special issue on socioecological approaches to psychology.

“…We begin with an article that introduces two explanatory models-orienting the audience to EST and the ecological metaphor from community psychology (Scarpa & Trickett, 2022). Then, we present conceptual articles that apply ecological theory to program development across diverse settings and domains, including communication and psycholinguistics in health care (Hernández-Rivera et al, 2022), training systems for clinical supervision (Terepka et al, 2022), wise interventions in higher education (i.e., theory-based strategies that work alongside existing curriculum to help students navigate their social world; Laiduc & Covarrubias, 2022), and treatment paradigms in the juvenile justice system (Snyder & Duchschere, 2022).…”

“…From an SE perspective, these disparities could be due to harmful interactions at various ecological levels that unfold over the life course. In response to these systemic challenges, Snyder and Duchschere (2022) apply Bronfenbrenner’s EST to therapeutic intervention with justice-involved youth to account for complexity and improve psychological well-being. This aim is achieved in several ways.…”

“…Advocacy on behalf of the youth at the meso- and exosystemic levels can also be helpful. For example, clinicians can facilitate relationships between clients and mesosystem personnel (i.e., probation officers) or advocate for changes in the mesosystem that promote wellness (i.e., nutrition, proper sleep, appropriate social engagement; Snyder & Duchschere, 2022). At the exosystemic level, advocacy on behalf of incarcerated clients might help unlock opportunities in the labor market.…”

Putting the individual and context back into national human resource development research: A systematic review and research agenda

“…NHRD does not occur within one microsystem but is manifest across microsystems, thus bringing to the fore the notion of mesosystems which highlight relationships between microsystems (Snyder & Duchschere, 2022). Many NHRD processes within countries bring to the fore multiple microsystems, yet the relationship between microsystems, which is central to EST, remains underexplored, with only 4% of articles explicitly investigating or theorizing mesosystems.…”

The association between caregiver psychiatric distress and perceived barriers to behavioral health treatment participation for youth in the juvenile legal system

“…Ultimately, interaction patterns between these various levels influence youth behavior and well‐being. To date, this model has been successfully applied in understanding delinquent behavior and behavioral health needs for youth in the JLS (Snyder & Duchschere, 2022) as well as in developing effective interventions for youth in the JLS (e.g., multisystemic therapy; Henggeler et al, 2009). However, it has yet to be applied to understanding interactions between JLS‐involved youths' families and the mental healthcare system.…”