“Ecological systems theory is an approach to study of human development that consists of the ‘scientific study of the progressive, mutual accommodation, throughout the life course, between an active, growing human being, and the changing properties of the immediate settings in which the developing person lives, as this process is affected by the relations between these settings, and by the larger contexts in which the settings are embedded'” (p. 188 Voydanoff citing Bronfenbrenner).
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1989). Ecological systems theory. Annals of Child Development, 6, 187-24