Posts

How mentor traits affect their relationship with aggressive children

Cavell, T. A., Mutignani, L. M., Alfonso, L., & Marie Smith, A. (2020). Attachment Tendencies, Big 5 Personality Traits, and Self‐Efficacy as Predictors of Mentors’ Relationships with Aggressive Children. American Journal of Community Psychology, 66(1-2), 130-143. Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Many staff members are expected to identify helpful and problematic habits from […]

The importance of providing staff support contacts for volunteer mentors

Keller, T.E., Drew, A.L., Clark-Shim, H., Spencer, R., & Herrera, C. (2020). It’s About Time: Staff Support Contacts and Mentor Volunteer Experiences. Journal of Youth Development, 15(4), 145-161. Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Although many formal mentoring programs are structured in a way so program staff supervises and provides support to volunteer mentors, who in […]

Three key factors that lead to mentor satisfaction

Martin, S. M., & Sifers, S. K. (2012). An evaluation of factors leading to mentor satisfaction with the mentoring relationship. Children and Youth Services Review, 34(5), 940-945. Summarized by Bridget Nestor, Editorial Assistant, Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring Introduction: Research suggests that mentoring relationships can provide positive outcomes for both mentor and mentee. Most literature, however, has […]

Study finds that cross-race mentoring is associated with reductions in perceived racism

Liao, L. C. & Sanchez, B. (2015). An exploratory study of the role of mentoring in the acculturation of Latino/a youth. Journal of Community Psychology, 43(7), 868-877. doi: 10.1002/jcop.21717 Summarized by Jessica Cunningham Background: There is very little research focused on children from immigrant families in general, and even less research on how mentoring interventions […]

Why are many formal mentoring relationships ending prematurely?

Spencer, R., Gowdy, G., Drew, A.L., McCormick, M.J., & Keller, T.E.. (2020). “It Takes a Village to Break Up a Match: A Systemic Analysis of Formal Youth Mentoring Relationship Endings.” Child & Youth Care Forum 49(1): 97–120. Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest: Many mentoring relationships end prematurely within formal programs This can lead to ineffective […]

Hospitality and tourism students’ perception of formal mentoring programs in higher education

Deale, C. S., Lee, S.-H., & Bae, J.-I.. (2020). Making mentoring meaningful: Hospitality and tourism students’ perceptions of mentoring. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 20(1), 1–22.  https://doi.org/10.1080/15313220.2019.1601051 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Evidence shows that mentoring relationships are beneficial within the context of education Little is know about the ways students studying […]

The significance of formal youth mentoring in reducing social isolation

Keller, T. E., Perry, M., & Spencer, R. (2019). Reducing Social Isolation Through Formal Youth Mentoring: Opportunities and Potential Pitfalls. Clinical Social Work Journal, 48, 1-11. Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Feelings of social isolation and loneliness are prevalent among many young people This study argues that developing intergenerational relationships through informal mentoring programs can […]

From “out of the park” mentoring relationships to consistent, evidence-based approaches

by Jean Rhodes For years, I was stubbornly convinced that formal mentoring programs should focus mostly on creating and maintaining deep, emotional bonds. I saw attempts to scale back on relationship length and strength, or to rely on curricula, as existential threats to the field–destined to reduce already modest effects. But, evaluations and meta-analyses of […]

Breaking up is hard to do: How and why formal mentoring relationships end

Spencer, R., Basualdo-Delmonico, A., Walsh, J. & Drew, A. (2017). Breaking up is hard to do: A qualitative interview study of how and why youth mentoring relationships end. Youth & Society, 49(4), 438-460. DOI: 10.1177/0044118X14535416 Summarized by Justin Preston   Introduction: One of the goals of every mentoring organization is to foster long-lasting, meaningful relationships […]

New study on the moderating effects of program experiences in formal mentoring

Weiler, L., Boat, A., & Haddock, S. (2019). Youth Risk and Mentoring Relationship Quality: The Moderating Effect of Program Experiences. American Journal of Community Psychology, 63(1-2), 73-87. Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest: Weiler’s, Boat’s, and Haddock’s (2019) study examined if mentor program experiences (i.e. support for efficiency, mattering, and opportunities to belong, supportive bonds with […]