Mentoring to prevent school drop outs

American businesses have established partnerships with schools in an effort to upgrade the quality of education and increase the number of skilled workers for the future. In these partnerships, business employees act as mentors to help develop human and social capital in at-risk children beginning at an early age so that they will graduate from high school and be prepared for post-secondary education. The purpose of this study was to examine mentoring policy in two elementary schools in an urban district. Participants in the study included central office administrators, principals from the two schools, 10 fourth-grade at-risk students in each school who had been mentored for at least one year, their mentors from local businesses, their teachers, and parents. Data were gathered from interviews, documents, and observations. The successes and limitations for mentoring programs in these two schools depended on policy, implementation, school governance, and support from central office. The study provided implications for improving these programs and providing a model for future mentoring programs.     

Enhancing School Engagement in At-Risk,Urban Minority Adolescents Through a School-Based,Adult Mentoring Intervention

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated whether a 5-month, adult mentoring intervention delivered by school personnel could enhance the school engagement of ninth grade urban minority adolescents. Compared to 20 at-risk students who did not receive an intervention, 20 at-risk students who were randomly assigned to mentoring exhibited significantly less decline during the first year of high school in perceived teacher support and decision making and were less likely to enter the discipline system. The effects were stronger and included sense of school belonging for participants who were “mentored as intended.” Moreover, mentee and mentor reports of relationship quality were associated with changes in mentored participants' school-related cognitions and behaviors. The findings indicate that adult mentoring may help to prevent normative declines in urban minority youths' school engagement.     

Lunch Buddy Mentoring for Children Victimized by Peers: Two Pilot Studies

The authors describe two pilot studies examining the potential benefits of Lunch Buddy (LB) mentoring, a manualized approach to school-based mentoring. LB mentoring takes place during the school lunch period and is designed to promote positive changes in children's peer relationships. In both studies, changes in peer victimization were assessed after one and three semesters of LB mentoring. In the first study, LB mentors were paired with elementary school children (N = 24) identified by child and teacher reports as victimized by peers. Results revealed significant declines in self- and teacher-rated victimization after one and three semesters of mentoring. In the second study, LB mentors were paired with victimized children who also engaged in bullying behavior (N = 23). Results indicated significant declines in self- and teacher-ratings of peer victimization after three semesters of mentoring. In both studies, ratings of perceived harm were low and ratings of satisfaction were high. Discussed are the implications of these findings for future research and for efforts to develop a nonharmful way to help children who are repeatedly victimized.     

Mentoring Among Women Lawyers1

Considerable controversy exists as to both the nature and efficacy of mentoring among women professionals. As noted by Wrightsman, this controversy persists largely because researchers have failed to use a common scientific definition of the concept. In the present research a survey of existing studies was used to set a more stringent criterion of mentoring than that usually employed. Data were then gathered from a sample of women lawyers in the State of Oregon. Results indicated that those meeting the more stringent criterion perceived themselves as more successful and satisfied in their careers than those not meeting it. Those women who said that they had mentors but who did not meet the criterion reported themselves as less successful and satisfied than those who claimed to have a mentor and met the criterion. These results are seen as demonstrating the value of the more stringent criterion as well as the possible value of true mentors to women professionals.     

Natural Mentors,Social Class,and College Success

Natural mentors provide advice, moral support, and assistance to adolescents who aspire to obtain a postsecondary degree, but past studies of the benefits of having an informal adult mentor have yet to resolve several issues. Our analyses of a national sample of high school graduates test three hypotheses: (H1) natural mentoring increases the odds of college attendance and completion, (H2) guidance and career advice are more important for college success than encouragement or role modeling, and (H3) students from poor and working‐class families benefit more from mentoring than students from middle‐ and upper‐class families. Hypotheses 1 and 3 are clearly supported when examining the odds of attending college, while Hypothesis 2 was not supported—encouragement and role modeling boost attendance, not advice or practical help. None of the hypotheses is supported when predicting degree completion among those who matriculated. As natural mentors do not appreciably increase the odds of completing college, we conclude past studies have overstated the postsecondary educational benefits of natural mentors.     

A longitudinal study of work-based, adult-youth mentoring

Using a longitudinal design, this study explored the relation of urban high school student attitudes toward school, work, and self-esteem beliefs to work-based mentoring, mentor satisfaction, and employment status. Participants included high school students taking part in a formal work-based mentoring program, students who established informal mentoring relationships at work, students who worked without a mentor, and students who were not employed during the academic year. While there were no significant group differences in the measures at the start of the year, results at the end of the year showed that students in the formal mentoring program believed more strongly that school was relevant to work than those who worked without a mentor. Students with mentors had higher levels of self-esteem than those who did not work. Students who were highly satisfied with their mentors had higher levels of self-esteem and believed more strongly that school was relevant to the workplace than students who did not work. The implications of these results are discussed and future research areas are identified.     

Benefits Derived by College Students from Mentoring At-Risk Youth in a Service-Learning Course

Service learning is increasingly being used as a pedagogical strategy for promoting the development of civic-mindedness among university students. Despite the use of this strategy, little is known about the benefits derived from specific types of service-learning experiences. Additionally, few notable studies have examined the unique outcomes experienced by mentors of at-risk youth. Therefore, this study examines the civic-related benefits that college students derive from mentoring at-risk youth within a structured, service-learning course. A series of linear regression models were estimated to determine if there were significant post-intervention differences between the treatment and comparison condition for the variables of interest, after adjusting for key background factors and pre-intervention levels of all variables. The results indicated that, in comparison to college students who did not participate in the course (n = 258), college student in Campus Corps, a youth mentoring program, (n = 390) had significantly higher scores at post-intervention regarding mentors’ civic attitudes, community service self-efficacy, self-esteem, interpersonal and problem solving skills, political awareness, and civic action. Findings hold important implications for youth mentoring programs and future research.     

A Two-way Street: Mentor Stress and Depression Influence Relational Satisfaction and Attachment in Youth Mentoring Relationships

Over the past two decades, youth mentoring programs have increased in popularity as an intervention for children exposed to a range of stressful life circumstances. Such programs have been shown to promote positive youth development and reduce risk for emotional and behavioral problems; yet, the effect size of youth gains remains small. The current study examined the influence of college student mentors’ history of early life stress and baseline depressive symptoms on their effectiveness in youth mentoring relationships using 340 randomized mentor–youth pairs from College Mentors for Kids, a well-established mentoring program with chapters across the United States. Hierarchical linear models revealed that mentors with higher levels of depressive symptoms reported lower relationship satisfaction and increased avoidance in the mentoring relationship. In contrast, mentors who experienced higher levels of early life stress had youth who reported greater satisfaction in the mentoring relationship and decreased relational anxiety. These findings are some of the first to examine the impact of mentor characteristics on mentor–youth relationships and highlight the importance of considering factors relevant to psychosocial functioning and emotional distress when recruiting, training, and supporting college student mentors.     

Development of a mentoring program for Chinese immigrant adolescents' cultural adjustment

The development and evaluation of a peer mentoring program for Chinese immigrant adolescents' cultural adjustment is described. Twenty-three high school students who recently immigrated from Mainland China participated in the year-long program and 4 high school students served as their peer mentors. Data analyses revealed that the students who participated in the mentoring program had significantly higher peer attachment-trust and need for closeness scores at post-test than at pre-test. Implications for working with adolescent immigrants are discussed.     

The Promotional Role of School and Community Contexts for Military Students

This article examines how supportive public school environments can serve as a promotional context for the development of children and adolescents from military families. The authors integrate theory and research from multiple research strands (e.g., human development, studies of at-risk youth, educational reform, goodness of fit theory, and school climate) to outline how public schools can support the development of all children and adolescents. This article provides further support for the supposition that school climates and the social-ecological contexts surrounding a school (e.g., universities, communities, school districts) have the potential to protect at-risk children and adolescents from an array of negative social, emotional, and psychological outcomes. The authors draw linkages between these research domains and the development of military children and adolescents. Promotional civilian school environments embedded within supportive and inclusive contexts can create a social infrastructure that supports the development of military children and adolescents. The authors argue that this conceptual approach can create a foundation for interventions and research that focuses on schools as normative supportive developmental settings for military children and youth during challenging times of war (e.g., deployments and multiple school transitions). This article concludes with a discussion of future directions in research on the development of military children and adolescents. Based on a heuristic conceptual model that outlines areas needing further research, the authors call for a deeper theoretical and empirical integration of school climate and external contextual factors surrounding the school. Investigating the social and organizational dynamics within these contexts can result in a more comprehensive picture of the development of military children and adolescents.     

Natural mentors and adolescent resiliency: a study with urban youth

Natural mentors may play an important role in the lives of adolescents. We interviewed 770 adolescents from a large Midwestern city. Fifty-two percent reported having a natural mentor. Those with natural mentors were less likely to smoke marijuana or be involved in nonviolent delinquency, and had more positive attitudes toward school. Natural mentors had no apparent effect on anxiety or depression. Using the resiliency theory framework, natural mentors were found to have compensatory but not protective effects on problem behaviors, and both compensatory and protective effects on school attitudes. Direct and indirect (mediated) effects of natural mentors are explored for problem behaviors and school attitudes. The potential importance of natural mentors is supported, and implications for future research are considered.     

Launching the post-college career: A study of mentoring antecedents

Drawing upon role-making theory, this study examines which new job market entrants, following college graduation, find informal mentors and how much mentoring they receive from these mentors using a predictive design. Our results suggest that individuals lower in negative affectivity and higher in cognitive ability as well as women, individuals who have previously had a mentor, and those who go to work for organizations with developmental climates are more likely to find informal mentors. In contrast, individuals higher in learning goal orientation and mentoring instrumentality receive more mentoring once a mentoring relationship has been established.     

Social support-oriented coping and resilience for self-harm protection among adolescents

The study aimed to investigate the extent to which social support-focused coping and resilience can predict lower risk for self-harm by at-risk adolescents. Participants were 962 high school learners from nine high schools in the Free State Province, South Africa (female = 57.9 %; black = 70.7 %; mean age = 16.34 years). They completed the Revised Coping Schemas Inventory and the Resiliency Scale for Children and Adolescents. Logistic regression analysis was computed to predict risk for self-harm from social support-focused coping and resilience. The results indicate that higher levels of social support predict lower risk for adolescent self-harm. Social support-oriented coping and resilience predicted tension-reduction and emotional reactivity. Social support-focused coping seems to have an influence in lowering the risk of self-harm amongst adolescents.     

Mentoring relationships from early adolescence through emerging adulthood: A qualitative analysis

This study compared perceptions of mentoring relationships among early adolescents, middle adolescents, and emerging adults. In ten focus groups, 56 middle school, high school, and college students described relational experiences that were analyzed thematically. Differences in the characteristics of the mentors nominated by the youth across the age groups were noted and five broad themes identified. Three themes were similar across the different age groups: (a) the importance of spending time together and engaging in shared activities, (b) trust and fidelity, and (c) role modeling and identification. Two themes were present in the narratives of all three age groups but played out differently in ways that were consistent with developmental issues and needs of that age group: (a) balancing connection and autonomy and (b) empowerment. These data can help guide future research and practice involving youth mentoring relationships across developmental and disciplinary divides.     

The Role of School-based Group Mentoring in Promoting Resilience among Vulnerable High School Students

This study examined the role of participation in a year-long school-based group mentoring program, Project Arrive (PA), on increasing resilience during the first year of high school among students identified as being at high risk for school dropout. Participants were 114, ninth grade students taking part in one of 32 PA mentoring groups, and 71 statistically matched comparison students (53% male, 75% eligible for free/reduced-price lunch, 62% Latinx). Using a propensity score with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to reduce selection bias, and a multi-level model to account for non-independence of data within mentoring groups, we examined changes from pre-test to program exit on seven external resilience resources (developmental supports and opportunities) and four internal resilience assets (personal strengths). At program exit, PA participants had higher adjusted means than comparisons on six external resources, including school support, school belonging, school meaningful participation, peer caring relationships, prosocial peers, and home meaningful participation. PA participants also had higher adjusted means on one internal asset, problem solving. Results point to the promise of group mentoring as an approach for increasing resilience among academically vulnerable adolescents.     

Creating Mentoring Relationships Between Female Faculty and Students in Counselor Education: Guidelines for Potential Mentees and Mentors

Mentoring can support all aspects of women's professional (and often personal) lives as students, educators, researchers, practitioners, and leaders in the counseling profession. So that female mentors and mentees know what to expect from each other, the authors draw upon the mentoring literature and their own experiences in mentoring relationships to provide guidelines for mentoring relationships by defining the means and ends that can be used to establish and maintain woman‐to‐woman professional mentoring in higher education.     

Making sense of mentoring or mentoring making sense? Reflections on the mentoring process by adult mentors with young people†

This paper sets out to look at the processes of mentoring from the perspectives of adult mentors who were interviewed as part of a wider study of young people's perceptions and understandings of informal mentoring processes. It seeks to clarify the processes of mentoring within the context of the ‘risk society’ by posing the question, how do young people and mentors perceive these processes? What do mentors get out of the mentoring relationship? Findings from a qualitative study of informal mentoring relationships are drawn on to suggest that the mentors perceive the experience of being identified as a mentor and the processes of mentoring in highly positive terms. It is argued that this provides a form of ‘cultural capital for mentors’ in helping them to make sense of the challenges and dilemmas they face as adults. It is concluded that this finding has important implications for the design of mentoring interventions with young people. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From Treatment to Empowerment: New Approaches to Youth Mentoring

Traditional approaches to formal youth mentoring have focused primarily on improving the lives of “at‐risk” youth through the assignment of individual mentors who are typically disconnected from youth's communities. Similarly, research in the field of formal mentoring has emphasized the dyadic relationship between the mentor and the mentee, with less attention paid to the broader relational contexts in which such relationships unfold. The current paper proposes a new framework that expands the scope of mentoring interventions to include approaches that build on and cultivate informal supports and empower youth to identify and reach out to networks of potential supportive adults, thus increasing the reach of youth mentoring.     

The Impact of Youth Risk on Mentoring Relationship Quality: Do Mentor Characteristics Matter?

Although mentoring is a widely used intervention strategy, effect sizes for at‐risk youth remain modest. Research is therefore needed to maximize the impact of mentoring for at‐risk youth who might struggle to benefit from mentoring relationships. This study tested the hypothesis that different types of youth risk would have a negative impact on mentoring relationship quality and duration and explored whether mentor characteristics exacerbated or mitigated these negative effects. Results showed that elevated environmental stress at a youth's home and/or school predicted shorter match duration, and elevated rates of youth behavioral problems, such as poor academic performance or misconduct, predicted greater youth dissatisfaction and less positive mentor perceptions of relationship quality. Mentors with greater self‐efficacy and more previous involvement with youth in their communities were able to buffer the negative effects of environmental stress on match duration. Similarly, mentors' previous involvement with youth buffered the negative effects of youth behavioral problems on mentor perceptions of relationship quality. Findings have important implications for the matching of mentors and at‐risk youth in a way that improves mentoring outcomes.