This research will examine a personal ecological transition of adolescence, explained with reference to Bronfenbrenner's description of the processes that go on in such a transition and of the impact that the transition has on the way the person involved shapes his life. The research will discuss the facts surrounding this personal transition, and how the events that took place during the transition connect to Bronfenbrenner's analysis of the effect of ecological transition before adulthood has on the success with which adulthood behavior and experience are encountered.
My adolescent experience that fits with Bronfenbrenner's description of an ecological transition is really not very unusual. One thing that made it so decisive for my life was that my childhood was also not very unusual. It was a normal American childhood in typical American "nuclear" family. I grew up eating almost every meal with my family, in what is considered a pretty old-fashioned way. There was the extended family visiting back and forth with doting grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The public school system I went to was also perfectly good. We went to church every Sunday and every Wednesday night, and during the late summer my brother and sister and I went to a month of Vacation Bible School during the day. During the early summer, the family went on vacations, always by car, to the destination of the year. Sometimes this would be a national park or camping, and usually it would be on the way to or from visiting relatives out of town.
My parents, especially my mother, were active at church (Church of God), being involved in various community affairs. At the time, civil rights was the big topic, and my mother was especially involved in programs aimed at social justice. In fact, that kind of public service was the basis of her strong spirituality, based on the Christian principle of love thy neighbor. She is still very much involved with the church, ...