Examining Youth Mentorship Across Diverse Contexts

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Mentoring involves a caring relationship between a youth and a supportive non-parental adult who youth may know from a program (i.e., formal mentors) or from their pre-existing social networks (i.e., informal or natural mentors). Previous research suggests that mentoring relationships may play a critical role in promoting a host of positive developmental outcomes among youth, including their social-emotional well-being, behavioral health, and academic adjustment. As researchers seek to understand the significance of these relational bonds on youths’ healthy development, further insight is needed into how these relationships may function to support youths’ needs across diverse social contexts. The studies in this symposium utilize qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches to examine the nature and function of youths’ mentoring relationships. The first study utilized qualitative data to examine how Black youth made decisions to disclose and seek-advice from their parents and familial natural mentors. The second study utilized qualitative data to explore if and how formal mentoring relationships promoted Black adolescents’ ethnic/racial identity development. The third study utilized quantitative data to examine whether support from informal mentors would attenuate the risk of substance use involvement among adolescent victims of dating violence. Lastly, the fourth study utilized quantitative and qualitative data to examine the size, composition, acquisition, and utilization of formal and informal mentoring relationships among first-year, first-generation college students. Practical implications for families, youth programming, and institutions of learning will be discussed.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Janelle Billingsley, University of Maryland - Baltimore County

Individual Presentations

• Black Adolescents' Disclosure and Advice-seeking: Making Choices Between Parents and Familial Mentors - Presenting Author: Janelle Billingsley, University of Maryland - Baltimore County; Ariana Rivens, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Noelle Hurd, University of Virginia - Charlottesville

• Black Youth Perspectives: The Role of Racial/ethnic Identity Development in the Mentor/mentee Relationship - Presenting Author: Lakindra Mitchell Dove

• Informal Mentoring as Protective Factor for Adolescent Victims of Dating Violence - Presenting Author: Jake Steggerda, University of Arkansas; Julia Kiefer, University of Arkansas; Ishan Vengurlekar; Melissa Brown, University of Arkansas; Forest Moore; Tim A. Cavell, University of Arkansas

• Seeking Help and Mentorship During the Transition to College: A Mixed-Methods Investigation among First-Generation Students - Presenting Author: Matthew A Hagler, Francis Marion University; Kristen Christensen; Renesha Johnson; Leah Snipe; Jean Rhodes