Entries by Justin Preston

Research review: Mentoring for LGBTQI-GNC Youth

The National Mentoring Resource Center (NMRC) has published the latest installment in their series: Mentoring Model/Population Review. The September 2016 iteration is a review of the latest research on the subject of mentoring youth who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and gender nonconforming (LGBTQI-GNC). Written by Christian L. Rummell, the review spans nearly […]

How can mentors serve as advocates for GLBTQ youth?

  By Christian Rummell I remember the deep sense of “otherness” that I felt as a kid struggling to figure out who I was. I remember the bullying, the constant fear of being judged, and the days that I attempted to hide my tears until I made it through the front doors of my old […]

With friends like these: Research identifies likely source of teen cyberbullying

Written by Matthew Swayne, futurity.org   Past or present friendship or dating makes cyberbullying much more likely to occur between two teenagers, new research shows. “A common concern regarding cyberbullying is that strangers can attack someone, but here we see evidence that there are significant risks associated with close connections,” says Diane Felmlee, professor of […]

Mentors give a lift to a student’s five C’s

Erdem, G., DuBois, D. L., Larose, S., Wit, D., & Lipman, E. L. (2016). Mentoring relationships, positive development, youth emotional and behavioral problems: Investigation of a mediational model. Journal of Community Psychology, 44(4), 464-483. Summarized by Matthew Hagler Introduction Transition into adolescence brings increased risk for a range of mental health and behavioral problems, ranging from anxiety […]

Boosting the grade for school-based mentoring: Training and focus are key

Written by Marisa Ramirez Mentoring programs for school-aged children have grown in the past two decades, but their effectiveness has not kept pace with their popularity. A study from the University of Houston College of Education finds school-based mentoring programs fail because they lack sufficient time, mentor training and a research foundation. “While community-based mentoring […]

Research identifies three keys to enhancing mentoring relationships

Futch Ehrlich, V. A., Deutsch, N. L., Fox, C. V., Johnson, H. E., & Varga, S. M. (2016). Leveraging relational assets for adolescent development: A qualitative investigation of youth–adult “connection” in positive youth development. Qualitative Psychology, 3(1), 59.   Summarized by Rachel Rubin   Introduction: Research has documented the many positive impacts of youth-adult relationships. However, little […]

Want to get the most from a college internship? Add a mentor.

David Orenstein, Brown University College students who do summer research often say it was time well spent, but a new study offers hard data on exactly which components and experiences proved valuable and how. The study involved 450 participants in the Summer Research Early Identification Program of The Leadership Alliance, a national partnership among universities […]

Ditch the small talk: When being direct with your mentee can be a lifeline in a crisis

Crisis hotlines have been around for years, but until recently there’s been very little data on which counseling strategies seemed most effective at helping people cope. The recent emergence of text-based crisis help lines is changing that. Designed for people who prefer texting to talking, these services generate large datasets of anonymous counseling sessions—raw material […]