Senior Fellow, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life
Co-Director Tufts Institute for Human-Animal Interaction
Education
PhD, Tufts University, 2013
MA, Tufts University , 2010
BA, Tufts University, 2008
Board Certifications
Research Activities
General Research
Human-animal interaction (HAI)
Positive youth development
Human-animal interaction and public policy
Selected Research Projects
The role of companion animals in military families in promoting health and positive development
Research and Clinical Interests
Evidence-based practice in human-animal interaction (HAI)
HAI in promoting mental and physical health
Empirical evaluation of HAI-based programs and interventions
Selected Publications
Mueller MK. Human-animal interaction (HAI) as a context for positive youth development: A relational developmental systems approach to constructing HAI theory and research. Hum Dev 2014; 57: 5-25.
Mueller MK. Is human-animal interaction (HAI) linked to positive youth development? Initial answers. Appl Dev Sci 2014; 18: 5-16.
Mueller MK. The relationship between types of human-animal interaction and emotions and cognitions about animals: An exploratory study. Anthrozoos 2014; 27: 295-308.
Mueller MK, Phelps E, Bowers EP, Agans J, Urban JB, Lerner RM. Youth development program participation and intentional-self regulation skills: Contextual and individual bases of pathways to positive youth development. J Adolesc 2011; 34: 1115-1125.
Agans JP, DeSousa L, Mueller MK, Champine RB, Lerner RM. The role of neighborhood ecological assets and activity involvement in youth developmental outcomes. J Youth Adolesc 2014; doi 10.1007/s10964-014-0091-1.
Geldhof GJ, Bowers EP, Mueller MK, Napolitano CM, Callina KS, Lerner RM. Longitudinal analysis of a very short measure of positive youth development. J Youth Adolesc 2014; doi 10.1007/s10964-014-0093-z.
Napolitano CM, Callina KS, Mueller MK. Comparing alternate approaches to calculating reliability for dichotomous data: The sample case of adolescent selection, optimization, and compensation. Appl Dev Sci 2013; 17: 1-5.