Mentoring relationships and programs for youth (original) (raw)

A model for the influence of mentoring relationships on youth development

Journal of Community Psychology, 2006

Anecdotal reports of the protective qualities of mentoring relationships for youth are corroborated by a growing body of research. What is missing, however, is research on the processes by which mentors influence developmental outcomes. In this article, we present a conceptual model of the mentoring process along with a delineation of some of the current research on what makes for more effective mentoring relationships. A set of recommendations for future research is offered.

Mentoring Programs and Youth Development: A Synthesis

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2002

The mentoring of youth by adults has been identified as one of the more promising program approaches to promoting positive youth outcomes. This synthesis examines the role that mentoring plays in helping youth develop a broad array of strengths and capacities related to: (1) education and cognitive attainment; (2) health and safety; (3) social and emotional well-being; and (4) self-sufficiency. The synthesis describes five mentoring programs that have undergone an experimental evaluation, three programs with non-experimental evaluations, and two quasi-experimental programs. Many of the programs featured mentoring as a component of a comprehensive evaluation, with mentors often recruited from the community and mentored children always at-risk youth. Overall, youth participating in mentoring relationships improved on some educational measures. Mentoring showed promise in helping youth develop healthy and safe behaviors. Mentoring indirectly improved a number of social and behavioral outcomes. However, the impact of mentoring programs on young adult self-sufficiency has not been well researched. Program practices and participant characteristics associated with positive and negative youth outcomes are suggested. The synthesis identifies additional research needs, including the need to compare impact of different program components, models of mentoring relationships, and participant characteristics. Two appendices describe youth mentoring programs and their evaluation studies, and delineate program components offered in addition to mentoring. (Contains 38 references.) (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

How Effective Are Mentoring Programs for Youth? A Systematic Assessment of the Evidence

2011

Summary During the past decade, mentoring has proliferated as an intervention strategy for addressing the needs that young people have for adult support and guidance throughout their development. Currently, more than 5,000 mentoring programs serve an estimated three million youths in the United States. Funding and growth imperatives continue to fuel the expansion of programs as well as the diversification of mentoring approaches and applications.

Mentoring: A Promising Strategy for Youth Development

I nterest in mentoring is at an all-time high, with these programs touted as a way to help kids who seem at risk for trouble get on the right track, and also as a way for successful adults to "give something back" to their communities. But popularity does not necessarily equate with effectiveness, which brings us to a critical question: Do mentoring programs work? Or, to put it another way: Are young people who participate in these programs better off because of this participation?

The mentor–youth alliance: The role of mentoring relationships in promoting youth competence

Journal of Adolescence, 2009

Mentoring programs hold great promise for fostering competency in disadvantaged youth. Although considerable theoretical work has been conducted to explain the role of mentoring relationships in promoting positive youth outcomes, very little empirical research has directly investigated this alliance. The present study developed and validated a tool to assess mentees' perceptions of their relationships with their mentors and to investigate the relationship between this alliance and youth competency. Based on pilot data from four cross-national mentoring programs (N ¼ 276), a 10-item, two-factor Mentor-Youth Alliance Scale (MYAS) was created. Subsequent confirmatory factor analyses conducted on national evaluation data from a multi-site study of mentoring programs (N ¼ 219), generated a 10-item, one-factor solution. The one-factor MYAS significantly predicted youths' scores in four competency domains: Family Bonding, Relationships with Adults, School Bonding, and Life Skills, at 8-months post-intake. Higher competency youth were more likely to be female, younger on average, and have a higher quality of ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/jado 0140-1971/$30.

Understanding and Facilitating the Youth Mentoring Movement

Social Policy Report

In this report, we review current scientifi c knowledge on the topic of youth mentoring, including what is known about relationships and programs, and their interface with organizations and institutions. Two primary conclusions can be drawn from this review. First, mentoring relationships are most likely to promote positive outcomes and avoid harm when they are close, consistent, and enduring. Second, to date, programs have achieved only limited success in their efforts to establish and sustain such relationships. This is evident in a modest and inconsistent pattern of effects on youth outcomes, well-documented implementation problems, and a lack of compelling evidence of cost-effectiveness. We also review public policy issues in the fi eld, focusing on factors underlying the popularity of youth mentoring in the US and recent efforts to extend its reach. We argue that these factors have had undesirable consequences that include decreasing intensity and infrastructure support for youth mentoring programs as well as a failure to take advantage of the full range of opportunities to cultivate and sustain mentoring relationships across different contexts of youth development. We call for a better alignment of research and practice in the area of youth mentoring, recommending policies that (a) promote evidence-based innovation, rigorous evaluation, and careful replication in dissemination for youth mentoring programs, and (b) encourage intentional and scientifi cally informed approaches to mentoring across the full-spectrum of youth-serving settings.

Promoting Successful Youth Mentoring Relationships: A Preliminary Screening Questionnaire

The Journal of Primary Prevention, 2005

Youth mentoring programs are an increasingly popular intervention, and although successful mentoring relationships can promote a range of positive developmental outcomes, relationships that fail can lead to decrements in a youth's functioning and self-esteem. The present research develops and validates a youth mentoring relationship quality inventory, based on data from a national evaluation of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) mentoring programs (N = 347 youth). This tool can be administered to adolescents who have been assigned mentors in order to assess the quality of the relationship as it is forming and to identify dyads that may need additional support before those relationships fail. Implications of such a tool for mentoring interventions and research are discussed. Editors' Strategic Implications: Reliability and validity data are presented for a measure of youth's perceptions of the quality of their mentoring relationship. This measure shows promise as a tool for research and evaluation of a wide array of mentoring programs due to its brevity, demonstrated psychometrics, and straightforward focus on the mentoring relationship.

Connecting Youth: The Role of Mentoring Approach

Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 2020

While formal youth mentoring can positively influence youth connectedness, little research has studied the specific approaches mentors engage in that support mentee social development. This study examines how mentors' specific approaches are uniquely associated with youth connection outcomes in formal community-based mentoring. Participants were 766 youth, ranging in age from 11 to 14 (M = 12.29), 56.7% female, and racially/ethnically diverse (41.0% Black/ African American, 21.4% Hispanic/Latinx, 20.0% White, 10.2% Multiracial/Multiethnic, 5.9% Native American, 1.2% other race, and 0.4% Asian/Pacific Islander). Person-centered analyses revealed three mentoring profiles which were differentially associated with youth outcomes: "Status Quo Mentors," who reported low-to-moderate levels of closeness within the mentor-mentee dyad, low levels of connecting their mentees with programs and people in their community, and low levels of mediating for their mentees; "Close Connectors," who reported moderate-to-high levels of closeness, moderate-to-high levels of connecting, and low levels of mediating; and "Connector-Mediators," who reported moderate levels of closeness, connecting, and mediating. Youth mentored by "Close Connectors" demonstrated the greatest benefit, with significant improvements in parent-child relationship quality, extracurricular activity involvement, and help-seeking. Results suggest that community-based mentoring programs that emphasize connecting youth within their communities may be more effective in enhancing youth support networks.