Posts

New Research Identifies Relationship Quality as Key to Successful School-Based Mentoring

Bayer, A., Grossman, J., & DuBois, D. L. (2015). Using volunteer mentors to improve the academic outcomes of underserved students: The role of relationships. Journal of Community Psychology. Summarized by Jessica Cunningham, B.A., Research Associate, Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring Background: Many schools facing financial hardship are turning to low-cost ways of identifying and supporting students […]

How Does Mentoring Benefit Youth? Let’s Count the Ways

by David DuBois One of the most common frustrations I have heard voiced by folks in practice and advocacy roles within our field is that the measures used in evaluations of programs do not seem adequate to the task of capturing the benefits that high-quality mentoring can offer to young people. It is tempting for […]

Tim Cavell on developmental relationships: They are the “holy grail but….”

Am J Orthopsychiatry. 2012 Apr;82(2):157-66. doi: 10.1111/j.1939-0025.2012.01151.x.Developmental relationships as the active ingredient: a unifying working hypothesis of “what works” across intervention settings. Li J1, Julian MM.  From the abstract: “Developmental relationships are characterized by reciprocal human interactions that embody an enduring emotional attachment, progressively more complex patterns of joint activity, and a balance of power that […]

How close relationships can help teens manage rejection

McDonald, Bowker, Rubin, Laursen & Duchene (2010). Interactions between rejection sensitivity and supportive relationships in the prediction of adolescents’ internalizing difficulties. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 563-574. Summarized by Stella Kanchewa, MA, University of Massachusetts at Boston Clinical Psychology student. In adolescence, young people must learn to contend with increasingly complex social worlds and […]

Mentoring Researchers: The Next Generation and An Award-Winning Hero

By Tim Cavell Last month I was in Washington, DC for the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research (SPR). This is a great conference for prevention-minded researchers and it’s a good fit for those seeking to advance the science that underlies youth mentoring. My graduate student, JT Craig, had organized a symposium entitled, […]

New study shows important pathway to mentor commitment

Gettings, P.E. & Wilson, S.R. (2014). Examining commitment and relational maintenance in formal youth mentoring relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 1-27, DOI: 10.1177/0265407514522145. summarized by Stella Kanchewa, M.A., UMass Boston doctoral student.   Background: Previous studies (e.g., Grossman et al. 2012; Grossman & Rhodes, 2002) have established the formation of an enduring relationship […]

FORUM: How will the new report on the “mentoring gap” help your efforts?

Earlier this month, MENTOR released The Mentoring Effect: Young People’s Perspectives on the Outcomes and Availability of Mentoring (pdf file), a major contribution to our understanding of just how much of an impact mentors are having on the lives of America’s young people. You can read more about the report and its findings on the […]

FORUM: How do you assess the level of “risk” in your mentees?

During last week’s webinar on the recent Role of Risk study, there was an excellent discussion about how to define “risk” in a young person’s life and how those factors might influence their mentoring relationship and even a program’s design and delivery. All young people face some level of risk or deal with a few […]

The effects of parent, teacher, and peer support on school engagement

Column Editor Renee Spencer’s Note: Recent scholarship is drawing attention to the link between mentoring and the long-standing and rich literature on social support. For example, Sterrett and colleagues (2011) argue that social support theory can offer a guiding framework for continued research on supportive non-parental adults and the role they play in promoting positive […]

Instrumental relationships: A potential relational model for inner-city youth programs.

Halpern, R. (2005). Instrumental relationships: A potential relational model for inner-city youth programs. Journal of Community Psychology, 33 (1), 11-20. Problem: Many inner city youth face heightened psychological and situational barriers affecting their ability to take advantage to specific opportunities that are afforded to them. Youth programs  are faced with the challenge of how to […]