Category: Research about mentoring

This study examines how mentors approach their mentees and how the adults in their mentees’ lives influence.  ( 766 youth participated, in age from 11 to 14)

Person-centered analyses revealed three mentoring profiles which were differentially associated with youth outcomes: 
“Status Quo Mentors,” reported low-to-moderate levels of closeness in the dyad, low levels of connecting their mentees with programs and people in their community, and low levels of mediating for their mentees
“Close Connectors,” reported moderate-to-high levels of closeness, moderate-to-high levels of connecting, and low levels of mediating.
“Connector-Mediators,”  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. 

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Most volunteer-based mentoring and tutoring programs that connect  youth to volunteers from diverse backgrounds are creating bridging social capital for their youth. However few frame their program design and outcome messages. Few have ways to measure this.

This report talks about the value of social capital and of using metrics to measure it.
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By Mark Vincent B. Yu & Nancy L. Deutsc

This study demonstrates how a developmental perspective may elucidate the processes that characterise and underlie youth’s relationships with supportive non parental adults.
Findings provide implications to understand, promote and sustain these important relationships in the lives of youth.
However, despite the potential benefits of these relationships, there has been little consideration of how the relational process may vary across different adolescent stages.
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Relatively less is known about whether parental perceptions of the match impacts or the length and strength of mentoring relationships. In this research relationships were examined. Parents/guardians were also surveyed about their level of satisfaction with the match.
The primary findings were that parent/guardian dissatisfaction with the match relationships meeting goals was the only significant predictor of a higher likelihood of match closure.
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By: Kern, L., Harrison, J., Custer, B., & Mehta, P. (2019).

This study examined methods to mitigate school dropout and increase student engagement by looking to promote feelings of connectedness and a sense of belonging through successful mentoring relationships.
The researchers have looked at how mentees viewed their relationships with their mentors, trying to find out what makes a high quality in mentoring relationship, and what factors influence the success of the match.
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By Jonas Aspelin & Anders Jonsson
It is not a study about mentoring but about
 relational competence in teacher education by introducing a Swedish project which focuses on interpersonal aspects. However there are some similarities with mentoring regarding relational competences.

The concluding discussion focuses on lessons learned from the study regarding how to promote teacher students’ relational competence.

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Implications for recruiting and retaining volunteer mentors
Barbara J.McMorrisa, Jennifer L.Doty, Lindsey M.Weiler, Kara J.Beckman and DiegoGarcia-Huidobro

Abstract
A critical component of successful mentoring programs is the quality of relationships. In school-based settings, relationship quality measures tend to rely on single, undimensional indicators reported by one informant. Using data from a school-based sample of both mentors and mentees enrolled in Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Twin Cities (n = 244), we identified multidimensional profiles of mentoring relationships, factors associated with profiles, and associations between profiles and program-related mentor outcomes.

Highlights

• Considering both mentor and mentee report of match relationship quality is crucial.
• Understanding patterns of match quality informs training.
• Strong match relationship quality relates to match length and commitment.

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Mentoring programs often  focus on the mentor-mentee dyad. But this  research study show interest of the parent or caregiver in the mentoring relationship.
Semi-structured qualitative interviews were made in a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program to explore reasons why they wanted mentors for their daughters.The results showed that the caregivers expected mentors to support their daughters as trusted companions, confidants, and conduits to opportunities and services. In addition, caregivers noted ways in which mentoring offered them respite and reinforced their parenting.

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From the Abstract:

Mentoring is a popular and widespread intervention for at-risk youth that can positively influence this population’s adaptation to stressors and increase overall resilience. Yet there is a lack of attention to how mentoring relationships work or the attributes of mentoring that contribute to successful outcomes. In this study, we employ qualitative in-depth interviews with mentors in a school-based program to learn about their perceptions of the strain experienced by their mentees, and how they respond to it during sessions. We focus on emotional regulation, conflict resolution, future orientation, and active listening – four positive coping strategies associated with enhanced resilience among at-risk youth. This study considers how these positive strategies fit into mentors’ descriptions of their approaches and the implications for intervention programming

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By: Jennifer K. Wesely & Nicholas P. Dzoba & Holly Ventura Miller & Christine E. Rasche

This research article focus on  the coordinating staff who interact on regular basis with mentors and mentees and whom rarely are used as informants but can be a valuable source of information on mentoring relationship.
But also give a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of youth mentoring relationships.

It reports a relationship quality from nine mentor-mentee dyads in a New Zealand school-based mentoring program, as well as reports from the program staff who supervised them.

Distal and experiential perspectives of relationship quality from mentors, mentees, and program staff in a school-based youth mentoring program
by Hilary Dutton, Kelsey L. Deane, Pat Bullen