1-185 - The Role of Natural Mentors in Adolescent Development: Expanding or Bridging Socioeconomic Inequality?

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Natural mentoring relationships between youth and nonparent adults form organically from existing social connections. Researchers have documented both immediate and long-term benefits for youth with natural mentors. However, over a quarter of youth do not have natural mentors, and relatively little is known about what accounts for this disparity. Further, not all natural mentoring relationships are equivalent. Youth experience differential impacts of mentoring, have mentors in different social roles (e.g., teachers, extended family members, religious leader), and have mentors who serve different functions (e.g., goal-directed guidance, nondirective emotional support). These papers utilized longitudinal, nationally representative data to investigate the role of youth’s natural mentoring relationships during middle to late adolescence, particularly in the context of socioeconomic inequality. One series of inquiries explores contextual predictors (e.g., neighborhood poverty, school characteristics) of forming natural mentoring relationships, distinguishing between mentors’ social roles (papers 1 and 2). Several papers also examine how youth’s sociodemographic characteristics influence the function their mentors serve (papers 1, 3, and 4) as well as associations between different mentor functions and youth outcomes (papers 3 and 4). Together, these studies suggest that youth in under-resourced neighborhoods and schools are less likely to have natural mentors and are more likely to experience directive mentoring styles. In spite of this class-based disparity in access, youth from low socioeconomic backgrounds might stand benefit most from natural mentors, who encourage educational attainment and mitigate risk for delinquency.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chairs

• Matthew Aaron Hagler, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Elizabeth Raposa, College of William and Mary

Individual Presentations

• The Influence of Poverty on the Prevalence and Functional Roles of Youths’ Natural Mentors - Presenting Author: Elizabeth Raposa, College of William and Mary; Lance Erickson, Brigham Young University; Jean Rhodes, University of Massachusetts Boston; Matthew Aaron Hagler, University of Massachusetts Boston

• School and Student Characteristics that Promote Natural Mentoring Relationships with High School Teachers - Presenting Author: Matthew Aaron Hagler, University of Massachusetts Boston; Elizabeth Raposa, College of William and Mary; Jean Rhodes, University of Massachusetts Boston

• Naturally Occurring Mentors of First-Generation College Students - Presenting Author: Veronica Fruiht, Dominican University of California; Thomas Miranda-Chan, Claremont Graduate University

• Informal Mentors and Delinquency Trajectories from Adolescence to Young Adulthood - Presenting Author: Lance Erickson, Brigham Young University