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Teens with lots of friends stay healthy longer

Posted by Thania Benios-UNC o The more social ties people have at an early age, the better their health is at the beginnings and ends of their lives, a new study suggests. Researchers say the study is the first to definitively link social relationships with concrete measures of physical well-being such as abdominal obesity, inflammation, […]

Guest Contributor Niobe Way: Why we should celebrate all mentors, male and female

by Niobe Way, Ed.D., Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology at NYU and Author of Deep Secrets Matching boys with caring mentors should be the goal of any mentoring program regardless of the sex of the mentor. My research with Black, Latino, White, and Asian American boys over the past two decades indicates that boys want […]

Study uncovers interesting differences in the interpersonal tone of school-based mentoring relationships

Pryce, J. M., & Keller, T. E. (2013). Interpersonal tone within school-based youth mentoring relationships. Youth & Society, 45(1), 98-116. Background Positive mentoring relationships display closeness, warmth, authenticity, and empathy. This study sought to capture the emotional tone of interactions within the relationships, using observable interactions, such as communication, facial expressions, eye contact, and signs of affection. […]

How support helps buffer the harmful effects of stress on children

Submitted by Amy Glaspie on Thu, 11/05/2015 – 09:32 (from SRA) Camelia E. Hostinar, Ph.D. (Northwestern University and University of California, Davis) Research is me-search, psychologists often say, referring to the fact that their research ideas are often inspired by personal experiences or shaped by their own worldview and existential questions. For me, the life […]

Explaining terror to children and adolescents

by Jean Rhodes, Ph.D. The attacks in Paris raise difficult questions for mentors. Should mentors, teachers, and other caring adults shelter young people from stories and explanations, and shift conversation elsewhere. Although this might be a good idea in some instances, there may be situations when it’s helpful to talk through difficult topics with mentees. Particularly […]

What is toxic stress and why does it matter for youth mentoring programs

  By Venessa Marks and Julie Novak This blog is part of a three-post series on toxic stress. The first post explains what toxic stress is and why it matters for youth mentoring programs, the second highlights what professional staff need to know about toxic stress, and the third discusses recent programmatic innovations related to toxic […]

#FOMO Leads To Depression And Anxiety In Teen Social Media Users

By Alyssa Navarro, Tech Times A report revealed that most teenagers today suffer from the fear of missing out or FOMO which is generated when they use social media. Experts from the Australian Psychological Society found FOMO elevates anxiety levels of teenagers and may contribute to depression. The findings, released [pdf] in the 2015 National Stress and […]

How a positive youth development framework can inform mentoring interventions for young adults

By Kristin Anderson Moore, Senior Scholar, Child Trends Healthy People 2020 identifies positive youth development (PYD) as a major new approach for interventions, describing it as “the intentional process of providing all youth with the support, relationships, experiences, resources, and opportunities needed to become successful and competent adults.” A growing number of evaluations suggest that PYD […]

Teens look to adults when evaluating risk

By Wray Herbert, Huffington Post Adolescence is a perilous time of life. It’s a time of heightened risk taking — reckless driving, risky sex, excessive drug and alcohol use. For decades the prevalent view — the common wisdom of parenting manuals — was that teenagers feel invulnerable, immortal. They simply perceive less peril in dicey […]

Two new studies explore how teens decide when to disclose to parents

Editor’s note: Two new studies explore the topic teen disclosure to their parents. The implications for mentors are clear. Mentors need to consider the role of culture, autonomy, and the context that give rise to spontaneous disclosure  Yau, J. (2015). Adolescent nondisclosure in cultural context: Voices of Chinese American adolescents and parents. Journal of Adolescent […]