Youth mentoring relationships: The role of mentor expectations and characteristics in relationship closeness and duration

Because strong relationships with adults are crucial to healthy psychological development in adolescence, social work has long supported mentoring as an intervention for promoting youth development. Youth in closer, more enduring relationships are more likely to derive greater benefits, such as improvements in emotional and behavioral functioning and academic achievement (e.g., Grossman & Rhodes, 2002). We know little about what specific factors and processes facilitate the development of closer, more enduring mentoring relationships between youth and adults, leaving programs with little empirically-based guidance in their efforts to promote mentoring relationships that do indeed help the youth they serve.

The purpose of this study is to identify mentor and youth expectations of the mentoring relationships and mentor characteristics associated with relationship duration and closeness. We will present findings from analyses of both qualitative and quantitative data from a mixed-methods longitudinal study (n= 68 mentor-youth pairs) of mentor-youth relationships currently underway. Expectations of the mentors and youth are being gleaned from analyses of in-depth individual interviews conducted at multiple time points. Associations between mentor characteristics and relationship closeness (as perceived by the youth) garnered from surveys of mentors and youth are also being examined. Specifically the relationships between mentors' reasons for volunteering, attachment style, and empathy at the time of match and relationship closeness at 6 months into the relationships will be reported. The findings from this study will provide much needed insight into the mentoring process by identifying specific processes and factors that contribute to the formation of closer mentoring relationships.