The ecological approach in social work considers influence at which levels?

• A. Micro, mezzo, and macro
• B. Global, regional, local
• C. Personal, genetic, neural
• D. Family, neighborhood, city

Answer: (A)

The ecological approach examines how a person is shaped by multiple interacting levels of their environment: micro, mezzo (meso), and macro. The micro level includes the immediate context—individual traits and close relationships like family and peers. The mezzo level looks at the connections between those micro contexts—settings such as schools, workplaces, and neighborhood networks where different parts of a person’s life intersect. The macro level covers broader forces—laws, policies, cultural norms, and economic systems—that shape opportunities and constraints for groups and communities. This multi-layer view helps social workers understand problems as arising from interactions across systems and guides interventions that can target individuals, their settings, and the larger structures influencing them. The other options don’t fit the established framework: geographic scales (global, regional, local) describe space rather than the layered systems; biological categories (personal, genetic, neural) focus on biology rather than environmental influences; and family, neighborhood, city mix settings but don’t capture the formal micro/mezzo/macro levels.