Entries by Jean Rhodes

10 research-based tips for building strong helping relationships with youth

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by Jean Rhodes Particularly since good working relationships between youth and mentors are the stock and trade of formal mentoring programs, it is surprising that the field has not sought to more directly benefit from the decades of careful clinical research on working alliances. Along these lines, University of South Florida psychologist Marc Karver and […]

Deceptively Simple Yet Very Effective: The Underrated Power of Follow-Up Questions

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As we gear up for the fall, here’s a simple, often overlooked conversational tool: thoughtful follow-up questions. Their power lies in their ability to show genuine interest, something that is universally appreciated. Across a series of experiments and real-world scenarios, including the high-stakes environment of speed-dating, relationship experts (Yeomans et al., 2017) found that people […]

From “just-in-case” to “just-in-time” mentor training

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By Jean Rhodes One of my favorite old Saturday Night Live skits was the Five-Minute University. The idea is that most of college courses fill students with a ton of information,  just-in-case it might be helpful some day.  In the skit, Father Guido’s Five-Minute University aimed to teach students in five minutes “what the average […]

Beyond the Shark Tank: How mentors can foster youth entrepreneurship

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By Jean Rhodes While shows like Shark Tank have popularized entrepreneurship in recent years, researchers have been curious about how to foster the next generation of Mark Zuckerbergs and Sara Blakelys. Enter the Young Entrepreneurs Study (YES), a research project led by prominenent developmental psychologists Richard Lerner and William Damon. This work on nurturing the […]

MENTOR welcomes Fred T. Whitted Jr., the New Director of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives

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By: MENTOR MENTOR Staff Could you introduce yourself and include a little about your background? I am Fred T. Whitted Jr. and I am the new Director of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at MENTOR. I have 7+ years of progressive experience in outreach, training, and program development. I gained these professional opportunities by working within […]

Guest editorial: Race talk in youth mentoring relationships

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By So Jung Lee, Bernadette Sánchez, Carla Herrera, Lidia Monjaras-Gaytan, David L. Dubois, & Amy J. Anderson An important part of growing up in the U.S. as adolescents of color is the verbal and nonverbal messages they receive about their race/ethnicity. This is called, “ethnic-racial socialization.” These messages are typically communicated by parents to their […]

The truth will set you free, but first it will make you anxious: How white mentors’ attitudes affect relationships

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Simpson, S. B., Hsu, T., & Raposa, E. B. (2023). Trajectories and impact of White mentors’ beliefs about racial and ethnic discrimination in a formal youth mentoring program. American Journal of Community Psychology, 71(3-4), 465-479. A recent study by Simpson et al. (2023) provides important insights into how White mentors’ beliefs about racial and ethnic […]

All you need is “deep level” similarity: Predictors of quality mentoring matches

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By Jean Rhodes Conventional wisdom has long emphasized the importance of matching mentors and mentees based on surface-level characteristics like gender, race, and ethnicity. The assumption has been that sharing these demographic similarities would lead to more comfort, understanding, and ultimately, higher quality mentoring. Yet a growing body of research is challenging this view and […]