Search results

Human-animal relationships are both ubiquitous and diverse across the life span, and may be especially salient among children and adolescents. Although research into youth involvement in human-animal interaction (HAI) is growing, existing data have not adequately explored the developmental processes associated with HAI. The purpose of this article is to discuss why relational developmental systems models, which explore bidirectional influences between individuals and their contexts, constitute a useful paradigm for addressing the challenges and complexities in research pertaining to human-animal relations, particularly in the study of positive youth development. Recommendations are presented for building the field of youth HAI research through expanding the exploration of animal relationships in ways that may serve to promote trajectories of positive development across childhood and adolescence.

AbstractCreating structures to include young people's opinions and advice has been recognized as important for high‐quality youth programs and services. Recent scholarship has begun to learn that most of these efforts are often symbolic rather than substantive. While continually advocated for, the practice is not widespread or well done. Using data from a statewide study of youth advisory structures and a case study of one advisory structure used within a municipal parks and recreation center, this article describes what both of these teach about creating substantive, meaningful, and useful youth advisory structure for program and organization development.

AbstractPeer victimization can negatively impact emotion regulation in youth and is associated with harmful mental health outcomes. One protective factor against the impacts of peer victimization is a strong attachment to family and positive peer relationships. Given that pets are commonly seen as family members and that youth report turning to their pet for emotional comfort, companion animals could provide an avenue of support for youth experiencing victimization. A geographically diverse sample of 5725 adolescents in the United States from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study® was used to explore whether the relationship between peer victimization and emotion regulation was moderated by whether a pet lives in the home. Having a pet in the home did not moderate the relationship between peer victimization and emotion regulation; however, mean‐level differences were present across types of household pet (i.e., youth with no pets, youth with at least one dog, and youth with non‐dog pets). Participants who did not live with a companion animal showed higher levels of both maladaptive emotion regulation (expressive suppression) and adaptive emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal), suggesting that having a pet might lower overall emotion regulation pathways regardless of adaptive directionality. Relational victimization was a significant predictor of expressive suppression regardless of whether there was a pet in the home, although overt victimization was not a predictor of either kind of emotion regulation. This research demonstrates the complex nature of human–animal relationships and suggests more research is needed to understand the nuanced relationship between pets, peer victimization, and emotion regulation.

AbstractAdolescence is a key developmental period for socio‐emotional skills, and companion animal relationships may be one potential source of emotional support and resilience during this time. This study used longitudinal data from 940 pet‐owning adolescents, collected over four‐time points, from youth in the Northeastern United States. We assessed whether pet relationship quality (indexed by relationship satisfaction, companionship, and emotional disclosure) predicted trajectories of loneliness, social anxiety, and depression. Results indicated that high satisfaction with a pet relationship was associated with more favorable trajectories, but companionship (i.e., regarding the frequency of interacting with the pet) was not related significantly to socio‐emotional functioning. High levels of disclosure to a pet were linked with less favorable trajectories for loneliness and depression, but not related to social anxiety. These results suggest that a pet relationship can, in some cases, be associated positively with socio‐emotional development, but that there is significant complexity in these associations. Families, educators, and practitioners should take a nuanced approach to understanding individual adolescent‐pet relationships as a contextual asset for specific youth.

Human-animal-environment interaction (HAEI) is increasingly used in special education. While most research of HAEIs has identified effects that broadly support positive special education outcomes, further research of HAEI-based interventions in these environments is needed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 teaching staff at a special education school that utilizes a range of HAEIs. The teachers are responsible for implementing evidence-based interventions to facilitate social-emotional learning (SEL), so assessing their unique perspectives on the impacts of HAEIs on student SEL outcomes is imperative. Phenomenological coding of the interviews identified 9 major themes that represented positive impacts as well as barriers and challenges experienced by students during HAEIs.

AbstractThis study assessed the validity of a set of social and emotional functioning constructs derived from the PYD short form (PYD‐SF) measure within a sample of children and adolescents with one or more mental health diagnoses related to social, emotional, or behavioral challenges. Using repeated measures design, responses to the PYD‐SF and the Social‐emotional assets and resilience scale were collected over two years from 369 students enrolled in special education. Multilevel factor analyses parsed within‐person variability from between‐person differences to understand the internal consistency of the target measures when used with clinical and special education populations. Associations between the social‐emotional constructs from the PYD‐SF and an assessment of social‐emotional assets and resilience were examined. A two‐level confirmatory factor analysis using seven PYD factors and the Social‐Emotional Assets and Resilience Scale indicated a very good model fit; all factor loadings were statistically significant at both levels. Results supported the validity and internal reliability of the social‐emotional constructs from the PYD‐SF measure for assessing the social and emotional competencies of youth with social, emotional, and/or behavioral challenges, but with the caveat that researchers should consider a higher degree of specificity when using it with youth from this population. The broad factors utilized in previous work should be reframed to emphasize separate types of connection. When keeping this revised framing in mind, the social‐emotional constructs of the PYD‐SF measure provide a tool for teachers, parents, and clinicians to use in treatment planning and identifying strategies to support positive development for diverse youth.

AbstractAn ongoing, innovative youth worker professional development is described in this article. This initiative began as youth worker professional development and then transcended to personal and organizational development. It grew from a moral response of Saint Paul Parks and Recreation staff and two faculty members of Youth Studies, University of Minnesota to offer higher‐quality services to youth for their healthy development. Its underlying philosophies and ethos included building and sustaining meaningful relationships, cocreating a space for learning and change, becoming a reflecting practitioner, and community organizing. This professional development responded to the participants' interests and needs or to local situations in that moment, that space, and the discussions, and took on different shapes at different times. There were many accomplishments of, challenges and barriers to, and lessons learned from this professional development.

Entrepreneurship offers a viable and proven pathway to economic growth and personal fulfillment. However, the number of individuals engaged in entrepreneurial behaviors remains low. This discrepancy between entrepreneurial attitudes and action underscores the need for programs that foster the development of entrepreneurship in today's youth. We argue that a relational developmental systems approach can help researchers understand and facilitate the development of entrepreneurship. In this study, we triangulate across quantitative and qualitative data from the Young Entrepreneurs Study, showing that self‐regulation skills, financial risk tolerance, innovation orientation, and the presence of entrepreneurial adults may be especially important for promoting entrepreneurial intent in older adolescents and young adults. We discuss limitations of the present data set and future directions for research.

As developmental scientists seek to index the strengths of adolescents and adopt the positive youth development (PYD) perspective, psychometrically sound measurement tools will be needed to assess adolescents' positive attributes. Using a series of exploratory factor analyses and CFA models, this research creates short and very short versions of the scale used to measure the Five Cs of PYD in the 4‐H Study of Positive Youth Development. We created separate forms for earlier versus later adolescence and ensured that items displayed sufficient conceptual overlap across forms to support tests of factorial invariance. We discuss implications for further scale development and advocate for the use of these convenient tools, especially in research and applications pertinent to the Five Cs model of PYD.

Using the tripartite conception of positive youth development (PYD) suggested by Hamilton (1999) – as a developmental process, a philosophy or approach to youth programming, and as instances of youth programs and organizations focused on fostering the healthy or positive development of youth – we review different theoretical models of the developmental process involved in PYD. In addition, we review the ideas for and the features of youth development programs aimed at promoting PYD. We discuss the need for research interrelating different, theoretically-predicated measures of PYD and, as well, the importance of clear links between models of the PYD developmental process and of the youth development programs seeking to enhance PYD among diverse youth. We discuss several conceptual and practical problematics that must be addressed in order to integrate the three facets of PYD scholarship.

Abstract
Children born very preterm can demonstrate social-cognitive impairments, which may result from limbic system dysfunction. Altered development of the subnuclei of the amygdala, stress-sensitive regions involved in emotional processing, may be key predictors of social-skill development. In a prospective cohort study, 7-year-old children born very preterm underwent neurodevelopmental testing and brain MRI. The Child Behavioral Checklist was used to assess social–emotional outcomes. Subnuclei volumes were extracted automatically from structural scans (n = 69) and functional connectivity (n = 66) was examined. General Linear Models were employed to examine the relationships between amygdala subnuclei volumes and functional connectivity values and social–emotional outcomes. Sex was a significant predictor of all social–emotional outcomes (P < 0.05), with boys having poorer social–emotional outcomes. Smaller right basal nuclei volumes (B = -0.043, P = 0.014), smaller right cortical volumes (B = -0.242, P = 0.02) and larger right central nuclei volumes (B = 0.85, P = 0.049) were associated with increased social problems. Decreased connectivity strength between thalamic and amygdala networks and smaller right basal volumes were significant predictors of greater social problems (both, P < 0.05), effects which were stronger in girls (P = 0.025). Dysregulated maturation of the amygdala subnuclei, along with altered connectivity strength in stress-sensitive regions, may reflect stress-induced dysfunction and can be predictive of social–emotional outcomes.