The core of the client's authentic identity. Individual's age, sex, health, etc. Their gifts and talents are already part of who they are even if the individual is aware of them or not.

The first level is the direct interaction in activities, roles and relationships in contact with the client in their immediate environment, relationships and their upbringing. Belief's about gender roles, individualism, family structures, and social issues establish norms and values that permeate a individual's developing microsystems.: Family, Education, Peers, Neighborhood Playground, Daycare Facility, Religion Practices, and Health Services.

These relationships can have great impact on the development and beliefs of an individual.

This level is connected between systems and microsystems; where a person’s individual microsystems do not function independently but are interconnected and assert influence upon one another. This level involves interactions between different microsystems in the individual's life.

Systems that influence the individual indirectly through micro-systems: Extended family and neighbors, School Board, Government Agencies, Social Services & Health Care, Mass Media, and Parent's Economic Situation.

This level incorporates other formal and informal social structures. While not directly interacting with the child, the exosystem still influences the microsystems through school board decisions or broader influences like government policies, mass media, and community resources. 

Social ideologies and values of cultures and subcultures. This level focuses on how cultural elements affect an individual's development, as it consists of the cultural ideologies, attitudes, and social conditions, such as the socioeconomic status that children are immersed in as they are already established in society and culture

Environmental changes that occur over the course of the individual's life cycle.

This level relates to shifts and transitions over the individual’s lifetime. These environmental changes can be predicted or unpredicted (which can cause stress in the development).

Historical events also fall within this level as they can contribute in a ripple effect to their way of life or as trauma.

As an individual goes through developmental changes as they get older and enter new environments, both physical and cognitive changes interact through shifting social expectations.