Publication Date
1-7-2025
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
Graduate School of Social Work, Institute for Human-Animal Connection
Keywords
Human animal interaction, Animal assisted intervention, Qualitative meta synthesis, Relational developmental systems models, Positive youth development, Grounded theory
Abstract
Limited research has explored youths’ relationships with animals as a possible ecological asset. We conducted a qualitative meta-synthesis of studies published before 2022 that examined how youth-animal interactions are described as shaping youth social-emotional health in education and therapeutic settings. We compared and combined the patterns of findings to determine which mechanisms within youth-animal coaction might be theorized to shape social, emotional, and behavioral development for youth in education and therapy contexts. We used a grounded theory approach to further analyze the primary data and compare it with extant relational developmental systems literature to suggest a new theoretical model for understanding the role of youth relationships with animals in youth development. We expand established human-centric theoretical models of youth development to describe how youth relationships with animals may operate as influential assets on youth developmental trajectories. We discuss implications for practice, limitations, and future research directions.
Copyright Date
1-7-2025
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Rights Holder
Erin Flynn, Miriam G. Valdovinos, Megan K. Mueller, and Kevin N. Morris
Provenance
Received from Elsevier
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
29 pgs
File Size
1.42 MB
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the Authors. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as
Flynn, E., Valdovinos, M. G., Mueller, M. K., & Morris, K. N. (2025). A Relational Developmental Theory of Human-Animal Interaction: A Meta-Synthesis and Grounded Theory. Developmental Review, 75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2024.101181
Publication Title
Developmental Review
Volume
75
First Page
101181
ISSN
0273-2297
Recommended Citation
Flynn, Erin; Valdovinos, Miriam G.; Mueller, Megan K.; and Morris, Kevin N., "A Relational Developmental Theory of Human-Animal Interaction: A Meta-Synthesis and Grounded Theory" (2025). Graduate School of Social Work: Faculty Scholarship. 167.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/gssw_facultyscholarship/167
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2024.101181
Included in
Animal Studies Commons, Developmental Psychology Commons, Development Studies Commons, Social Work Commons