Coach, friend, or parent: A youth-centered analysis of needs met in significant youth-adult relationships

• In Event: 3-086 - You + Me = Us: Developmental processes in supportive youth-adult relationships

Integrative Statement

Non-parental youth-adult relationships are key developmental assets for promoting positive development in adolescence (Theokas & Lerner, 2006). Youth-adult relationships have been associated with developmental benefits in areas such as mental health (Hurd & Zimmerman, 2010), academic achievement (Rhodes, Grossman, & Resch, 2003) and identity formation (Hurd, Sanchez, Zimmerman, & Caldwell, 2012). To better inform efforts to facilitate youth-adult relationships in ways that are maximally beneficial to diverse youth, more research is needed on the different ways in which these relationships serve as developmental assets for different youth. To that end, the present study asks “How do youth individual needs shape relationships with significant-adults (VIPs) across adolescence?”
Data is drawn from a longitudinal study (five interviews across three years) of youth-adult relationships. The present analysis includes 31 youth, ages 13 to 17 at T1. The youth-VIP relationship was the unit of analysis. As such, the authors created relationship profiles that organized youth comments about each VIP relationship across all interviews. Initially, youth needs were determined by reading through the relational development profiles. Then, the codes were applied to a specific question of the T5 interview protocol: “Reflecting back on who you were at the time, what do you think you needed from this relationship?” Authors met to compare their decisions and build consensus (Hill et al., 2005). Each coder engaged in writing memos about each need category, which facilitated adjustment of the working definitions. Once consensus was reached, authors conducted a thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006) to define the core relational processes described within each set of youth needs excerpts.
Three distinct categories of VIP relationships emerged: coach, friend, and parent. “Coach” served as a metaphor for relationships in which VIPs provided help towards a specific achievement or skill development. Coaches helped youth towards specific achievements by: 1) providing practical help to support competence, 2) providing encouragement to support morale, and 3) providing positive feedback to support confidence. “Friend” served as a metaphor for relationships in which VIPs met youth needs by providing positive youth-focused companionship. Friend-like VIPs shaped the youth-focused companionship by providing: 1) a reliable presence, 2) a new perspective, and 3) acceptance free from pressure to impress. “Parent” served as the metaphor for relationships in which VIPs met youth needs by nurturing a budding sense of self amidst a plethora of life challenges. Parent-like VIPs nurtured youth by providing: 1) guidance with which to grow as a person, 2) space in which to feel connected, and 3) a foundation from which to feel supported.
These findings provide a framework with which to consider how a mentoring relationship fits with needs present in the life of an individual youth. The literature on person-environment fit suggests individuals receive optimal developmental benefit from settings that fit their individual needs (Eccles et al., 1993). Understanding these needs and understanding the processes through which adults are meeting these needs, can help shape future research on youth-adult relationships and can help inform intentional program design of youth mentoring and other youth development programs.

Authors

• Haley E Johnson, University of Virginia - Curry School of Education
  Presenting Author

• Miriam R Arbeit, Suffolk University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Anita A Grabowska, University of Virginia - Curry School of Education
  Non-Presenting Author