Mentoring provided: Relation to mentor’s career success, personality, and mentoring received

The relationship of a mentor’s perceptions of his/her career success, mentoring he/she received, personality, and the amount of mentoring he/she provided was investigated in a sample of 176 administrators. Results indicated that the amount of mentoring respondents reported they had provided was positively associated with their objective and their subjective career success and with the amount of mentoring they reported they had received. Mentoring provided mediated the relationship between mentoring received and subjective career success. Finally, the personality trait of openness was associated with mentoring provided over and above the contribution of human capital and demographics. The results were in line with suggestions in the literature that providing mentoring has positive consequences for the career of the mentor and that an individual who has been mentored is more likely to provide mentoring. However, the findings suggested a limited role for the personality of the mentor in providing mentoring. The implications for career development practices and tactics and for future research were considered, along with the limitations of the study.     

Natural Mentoring Processes Deter Externalizing Problems Among Rural African American Emerging Adults: A Prospective Analysis

A 3-wave model linking natural mentoring relationships to externalizing behavior was tested with 345 rural African American emerging adults in their final year of high school. Structural equation models were executed linking multi-informant reports of mentor-emerging adult relationship quality with youths' externalizing behavior 18 months later. Consistent with our primary hypotheses, emerging adults whose relationships with their natural mentors were characterized by instrumental and emotional support and affectively positive interactions reported lower levels of anger, rule-breaking behavior, and aggression. These effects emerged independent of the influences of family support and youth gender. Two intrapersonal processes, a future orientation and self-regulation, emerged as mediators of the influence of natural mentoring relationships. The influence of natural mentors was most pronounced for emerging adults experiencing high levels of life stress.     

The state of mentoring research: A qualitative review of current research methods and future research implications

Research regarding mentoring relationships has flourished during the past 20 years. This article reviews the methodology and content of 200 published mentoring articles. Some of the major concerns raised in this review include over reliance on cross-sectional designs and self-report data, a failure to differentiate between different forms of mentoring (e.g., formal versus informal), and a lack of experimental research. Implications and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Mentor commitment in formal mentoring relationships

This research examined the role of mentor commitment relative to protégé perceptions of relationship quality within formal mentoring programs. Based on a matched sample of 91 mentors and protégés, the results indicated that mentor commitment related positively to protégé reports of relationship quality. This relationship was stronger for male protégés than for female protégés. The results indicated that protégés reported higher quality relationships when mentors underestimated their commitment to the relationship relative to the protégés estimate of mentor commitment. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

Formal mentoring programs: The relationship of program design and support to mentors’ perceptions of benefits and costs

This study investigates the relationship of formal mentoring program design elements (i.e., voluntary participation, input to matching, and effectiveness of training) and management support to the benefits and costs perceived by formal mentors. Data were collected from 97 formal mentors from a Midwestern financial institution. Multiple regressions were performed controlling for time as a mentor in the program, hours spent mentoring, and number of protégés. Voluntary mentor participation was positively related to perceiving rewarding experiences and negatively related to being more trouble than it was worth. Input to the matching process was negatively related to nepotism, and perceptions of training effectiveness were positively related to generativity. Finally, perceived management support for the program was positively related to rewarding experience and recognition, and negatively related to generativity and bad reflection. Three supplemental group interviews were conducted to further explore some of the survey findings. Directions for future research and implications for formal workplace mentoring programs as well as mentoring programs in cross-disciplinary contexts are discussed.     

Personal and social support factors involved in students’ decision to participate in formal academic mentoring

In this study, we examined the role of personal and social support factors involved in students’ decision to participate in formal academic mentoring. Three hundred and eighteen students completing Grade 11 and planning to study sciences in college filled out a questionnaire and were then asked to participate in an academic mentoring program during their first year of college. A total of 150 students agreed to take part in this program (volunteers) and 168 declined the offer (non-volunteers). The overall findings support the hypothesis that academic mentoring is more attractive for some students than others depending on their personality, help-seeking attitudes, academic dispositions, perceived support from friends, and support available during the transition to college. These findings were discussed in light of the different mechanisms proposed by mentoring and social support literatures.