New Findings on the Struggles and Rewards of Youth Mentoring
Wong, J. S., Neilsen, K., & Nielsen, J. (2026). Examining volunteer experiences in an after-school mentoring program for youth. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning. https://doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2026.2703772
Introduction
Most evaluations of youth mentoring programs measure outcomes for the young people served, leaving a gap in understanding how the experience affects the adults who volunteer. Wong and colleagues (2026) set out to fill part of that gap by studying volunteers in the Youth Education Programs (YEPs), a community-based, gender-separated program that helps seventh graders navigate the transition to high school. The authors note that this gap matters because volunteer wellbeing and volunteer retention are tied together—organizations that understand what volunteering actually feels like are better positioned to support the people delivering their programs. Prior work has shown that volunteering broadly is associated with higher life satisfaction and psychological wellbeing, and that mentors in particular often report gains in confidence, leadership, and a sense that their efforts are producing real change. But the authors also flag two specific weaknesses in the existing literature: first, most volunteer mentoring research has focused on programs run through universities rather than community-based nonprofits, and second, studies tend to ask only about positive experiences, leaving little room for volunteers to describe frustration or difficulty.
Methods
Researchers surveyed 156 volunteer mentors across four semesters (Fall 2017 through Spring 2019) in metro Vancouver, Canada. Volunteers completed a pretest survey after initial training and were invited to complete a posttest survey after the program ended; 73 volunteers (47%) completed both. Surveys combined closed-ended scales measuring facilitation skills, training preparedness, and satisfaction with open-ended questions analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis (Wong et al., 2026).
Results
Training was rated positively from the start: 90% of volunteers agreed or strongly agreed they felt prepared to facilitate sessions immediately after the initial workshop. That confidence held steady rather than wavering once volunteers actually ran the program. Self-rated facilitator skills increased significantly from pretest to posttest, with female volunteers showing a notable gain while male volunteers’ ratings stayed relatively stable. Volunteers described gains across three broad skill areas: leadership (managing group dynamics, public speaking, organization), communication (engagement, inclusivity), and problem-solving (handling conflict, adapting on the fly). On the mentorship side, volunteers spoke about learning to give advice, serving as role models, and building genuine rapport with the youth they worked with. Volunteers left the program more confident in their facilitation abilities and highly satisfied overall, even though nearly all of them wrestled with the same handful of persistent difficulties—especially keeping youth focused and engaged (Wong et al., 2026).
Discussion
The authors frame their findings as evidence that youth mentoring is a reciprocal exchange rather than a one-way act of service, as volunteers also underwent personal growth. At the same time, the consistency of the challenges volunteers named—attention, engagement, authority—suggests these are structural features of group-based youth mentoring rather than problems specific to under-trained individuals. The authors also note that the gender pattern in facilitation-skill growth deserves further attention, since it diverges somewhat from assumptions that men and women experience volunteer roles similarly (Wong et al., 2026). The authors acknowledged the attrition, cutting the sample nearly in half between pretest and posttest, and the volunteers who dropped out differed systematically from those who stayed—they were older, more experienced, and more likely to be in supervisory “wisdom champion” roles, raising the possibility that the reported gains and satisfaction levels don’t fully represent more experienced volunteers. Skill gains were also self-reported rather than independently verified, opening the door to social desirability effects.
Implications for Mentoring Programs
The findings point toward a few directions for organizations that depend on volunteer mentors. Training curricula could be expanded to address the specific recurring pain points volunteers named—strategies for holding attention, redirecting high energy, and managing disruptive behavior—rather than focusing primarily on curriculum delivery. Volunteers also asked for more experiential preparation, including role-play scenarios and exposure to accounts from volunteers who came before them, suggesting that peer-mentorship structures for new volunteers could ease the transition into the role. Finally, because satisfaction remained high despite real difficulties, programs may benefit from explicitly naming and communicating the personal and professional growth volunteers can expect, both as a retention tool and as a recruitment message (Wong et al., 2026).
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