Best Practices

Effectiveness of Mentoring Programs for Youth: A Meta-Analytic Review. Authors: D. DuBois et al. 2002. In American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 30, No. 2: pp. 157–197. Available for a fee from SpringerLink.
http://www.springerlink.com

Researchers reviewed 55 evaluations of the effects of mentoring programs on youth and found evidence of a modest benefit of program participation for the average youth. The use of theory-based and empirically based best practices enhances the effects of mentoring, as do strong relationships characterized by greater intensity or quality, as reported by mentors, youth, program staff, and teachers. Frequency of meetings between mentors and mentees, emotional closeness, and the length of the relationship may also lead to greater effects. Mentors’ gender and race or ethnicity had little effect on whether youth benefited from mentoring or not, but researchers found that mentors with experience in the helping professions (for instance, teachers) had a greater impact on their mentees than mentors with no such experience. In addition, researchers found that training mentors before the relationship started had no effect, while providing them with ongoing training during the match period did have an effect. Youth from at-risk and disadvantaged environments seem most likely to benefit from participation in mentoring programs, whereas youth at-risk due to personal vulnerabilities, such as academic failure, have varied outcomes depending on the characteristics of the programs. Researchers found some evidence that poorly implemented programs may have an adverse effect on the latter group of youth.

Mentoring School-Age Children: Relationship Development in Community-Based and School-Based Programs. Authors: C. Herrera, C. Sipe, and W. McClanahan. 2000. Available free from Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/34_publication.pdf

The second part of a two-part study, this report explores volunteers’ experiences and relationship development within the two largest contingents of one-on-one mentoring programs: community-based programs and school-based programs (in which mentors and youth meet only at school). According to the authors, the second part of the study demonstrates that school-based mentoring of disadvantaged youth provides a promising complement to the traditional community-based model. School-based mentors report relationships with youth that are similar in quality to those observed among mentors in community-based programs. Comparing the two program types, the authors found that mentors in school-based programs spend more time working on academics or doing homework with mentees. School-based mentors also have more contact with teachers and feel more effective in influencing mentees’ educational achievement. In community-based programs, mentors spend more time engaging in social activities, have more contact with parents, and feel more effective in influencing mentees’ social behavior. The results of the first part of the study are published in a Public/Private Ventures publication entitled Mentoring School-Age Children: A Classification of Programs. During the first part of the study, researchers surveyed 722 mentoring programs nationwide, investigating how school-based mentoring programs differ from the traditional, community-based model and examining implications for programming, operations, and interactions between mentors and youth.

Perceived Similarity, Expectation-Reality Discrepancies, and Mentors’ Expressed Intention to Remain in Big Brothers/Big Sisters Programs. Authors: B. Madia and C. Lutz. 2004. In Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 34, No. 3: pp. 598–623. Available for a fee from Blackwell Publishing.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/jasp

Researchers studied 95 mentors (63 women and 32 men) recruited from 3 Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies in central and southern Ohio. Results suggest that perceived similarity in extraversion (the personality trait of being shy or not) as well as the negative discrepancy between ideal versus actual roles (where mentors’ expectations were more positive than the reality of their roles) are significant predictors of mentors’ expressed intention to remain in the relationship. Relationship quality and interpersonal attraction appeared to mediate these findings. Findings failed to substantiate the assumption that similarity in race, attitudes, and interests are essential characteristics in order for matches to endure. Researchers recommended similar studies be conducted with larger and more diverse populations and a more even gender distribution, and that longitudinal studies be conducted to determine if findings about mentors’ reported intentions translate into actual behavior.

The Promise and Challenge of Mentoring High-Risk Youth: Findings From the National Faith-Based Initiative. Authors: S. Bauldry and T. Hartmann. 2004. Available free from Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/171_publication.pdf

This report documents an evaluation of mentoring programs run by 4 sites participating in the National Faith-Based Initiative for High-Risk Youth (NFBI), a 12-site demonstration that took place from 1998 to 2004 and tested the effectiveness of collaborations between local faith-based institutions and juvenile justice and law enforcement organizations. Researchers looked at the implementation of the faith-based mentoring programs, investigating the use of faith-based volunteers and the potential of the intervention for high-risk youth. They found that relationships with younger youth lasted longer than those with older youth, that young people with more risk factors were less likely to stay in mentoring, and that generational differences between youth and mentors (40 percent of whom were older than 50) might explain why the overall duration of matches across sites was lower than hoped. They also found that successful sites offered more intensive case management than less successful sites. The report does not offer a final assessment of the value and effectiveness of faith-based mentoring programs.

The Test of Time: Predictors and Effects of Duration in Youth Mentoring Relationships. Authors: J. Grossman and J. Rhodes. 2002. In American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 30, No. 2: pp. 199-219. Available for a fee from SpringerLink.
http://www.springerlink.com

Researchers examined the effects and predictors of duration in relationships between youth and their mentors. Adolescents in mentoring relationships that lasted a year or more reported the most improvements, with progressively fewer effects emerging among youth who were in relationships that terminated in less than a year. Adolescents in relationships that terminated within a very short period of time reported declines in several indicators of functioning. Older adolescents, as well as those who had been referred for services or had sustained emotional, sexual, or physical abuse, were most likely to be in early terminating relationships, as were married volunteers aged 26 to 30 and those with lower incomes. Female matches were marginally more likely to terminate than those of male matches, and same-race minority matches were marginally more likely to terminate than same-race White matches. However, when race was an explicit matching criterion, those findings did not hold. Similarly, although cross-race matches terminated more often than same-race White matches, this finding did not hold with respect to matches in which the interest of the youth and volunteer were primary matching criteria. This paper was based on data from the national study of Big Brothers Big Sisters (Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters, listed in Appendix II).

Understanding the Mentoring Process Between Youth and Adults. Author: R. Spencer. 2006. In Youth & Society, Vol. 37, No. 3: pp. 287-315. Available for a fee from SAGE Publications.
http://yas.sagepub.com

The author interviewed 24 pairs of adults and adolescents (ages 12 to 17), 12 from a Big Brothers program and 12 from a Big Sisters program in an urban community in the Northeast region of the United States. Pairs had been matched for at least 1 year and were deemed by case managers to have made a significant contribution to the well-being of the adolescent. The author found that the deepening of mentoring relationships depended on the joint commitment and emotional involvement of both the adult and the adolescent. Also important was mentors’ capacities to hold empathic views of their mentees and to understand how the difficulties youth faced were connected to their larger relational and social contexts. In cross-racial pairs that had forged lasting connections, the mentors’ initial intention to help needy young people changed to a desire to help their particular mentees grow to reach their full potential.

Volunteer Mentoring Relationships With Minority Youth: An Analysis of Same- Versus Cross-Race Matches. Authors: J. Rhodes et al. 2002. In Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 32, No. 10: pp. 2114–2133. Available for a fee from Blackwell Publishing.
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/jasp

Researchers compared the effects of mentoring on 10- to 16-year-olds in same- and cross-race mentor relationships and evaluated youth, parent, and caseworker impressions of the two types of relationships. They found that minority youth in cross-race matches were less likely to report initiating alcohol use, while minority boys in same-race matches reported smaller decreases in scholastic competence and self-worth than did minority boys in cross-race matches. Minority girls in same-race matches reported smaller decreases in school value and self-worth than did minority girls in cross-race matches. Youth in cross-race relationships were more likely to say that they would talk to their mentors “when something was bugging them” and to perceive their mentors as providing unconditional support. Case managers reported that parents of youth in same-race matches were more supportive of the relationship than were parents of youth in cross-race matches. At the same time, parents of youth in cross-race matches were more likely than were parents of youth in same-race matches to believe that the relationship improved their children’s peer relationships, that the mentor tried to build on the youth’s strengths, and that the mentor took the youth to places he or she wanted to go. Researchers noted that contrasts of same- versus cross-race matches are complicated by the fact that minority youth are not randomly assigned to the mentor relationships. Those who express a preference for a same-race match and who are willing to endure the relatively longer waiting time for such a match, might differ from those who, at baseline, express no such preference. This paper was based on data from the national study of Big Brothers Big Sisters (Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters, listed in Appendix II).

Child Welfare and Foster Youth

Mentoring Adolescent Foster Youth: Promoting Resilience During Developmental Transitions. Authors: K. Osterling and A. Hines. 2006. In Child and Family Social Work, Vol. 11, No. 3: pp. 242-253. Available for a fee from Blackwell Publishing.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/cfs

Researchers used a self-administered survey, as well as focus groups and interviews, to gather information on foster youth participating in the Advocates to Successful Transition to Independence program (ASTI). Run by a county-based nonprofit agency, ASTI trains and supervises community volunteers who provide one-on-one advocacy and mentoring services to children in the county’s juvenile justice system. Conducted in two phases over 2 years, the study found that mentoring may help prevent negative outcomes as youth emancipate from the foster care system and transition into young adulthood. Of those young people who said they have adults they can ask for help or advice, 41 percent named their mentors as one of those adults. Overall, youth described their relationships with their advocates as helpful and supportive, and all youth reported an increase in their independent living skills since seeing their advocates. Researchers made recommendations, noting that strong, supportive, and caring relationships between mentors and youth are necessary before mentors can help with independent living skills, that stronger links between mentoring programs and independent living programs may steer youth toward independent living programs, and that mentoring programs may need strong coordination and support for mentors.

Education and Academic Achievement

Agents of Change: Pathways Through Which Mentoring Relationships Influence Adolescents’ Academic Adjustment. Authors: J. Rhodes, J. Grossman, and N. Resch. 2000. In Child Development, Vol. 71, No. 6: pp. 1662–1671. Available free from the Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton University.
http://crcw.princeton.edu/jgrossman/agents%20of%20change.pdf

Researchers tested a conceptual model hypothesizing that the effects of mentoring relationships on youths’ academic outcomes were mediated partially through improvements in parental relationships. Youth in the study were 10 to 16 years old. In addition to improvements in their relationships with their parents, mentoring reduced youths’ unexcused absences and improved perceived academic competence. Researchers did not detect direct effects of mentoring on self-worth, school value, and grades. Instead, these effects were mediated through improved relationships with parents and improved scholastic competence. This paper was based on data from the national study of Big Brothers Big Sisters (Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters, listed in Appendix II).

Can Mentoring Improve Academic Achievement? An Evaluation of a Four-Year, Early Adolescent Program. Authors: R. Rumberger and M. Brenner. 2002. Available free from Gevirtz Research Center, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University of California, Santa Barbara.
http://education.ucsb.edu/grc/pdf/Mentor.pdf

Researchers evaluated the Academic Mentor Program (AMP), a 4-year academic mentoring program in a midsize school district in Southern California. The program aimed to improve the engagement, aspirations, and academic achievement of average-performing fifth graders by matching them to an adult mentor for an hour a week. The program ran for a total of 5 years, serving three cohorts of students: the first group entered fifth grade in 1996, the second in 1997, and the third in 1998. Most students participated for 1 to 3 years. Researchers studied the first two cohorts in their evaluation of student outcomes, comparing students who participated in the program (32 in the first cohort and 40 in the second) to students who did not participate (30 in the first cohort and 26 in the second). They found that the program had some positive and significant effects on psychological well-being, career aspirations, and academic grades of program participants from the first cohort of students, but no significant improvements for the second cohort of students. Researchers attributed the disparate results to a number of factors, including how the participant and comparison groups were selected, changes in program structure over time, and mentor attrition.

Faith-Based Mentoring: A Preventive Strategy for At-Risk Youth (paper presented at the 14th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect). Authors: S. Clarke, J. Forbush, and J. Henderson. 2003. Summarized in Handbook of Youth Mentoring. Editors: D. DuBois and M. Karcher, p. 383. 2005. Available for a fee from Sage Publications.
http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book226176

Researchers reported findings from an evaluation of the St. John Baptist Church mentoring program, which focused on African American students who came from “working poor” families in a suburban county and who were doing poorly in school. African American male mentors were matched with youth for a 1-year commitment. Evaluators found the average mentor tenure to be 4 ½ years and reported an improvement in grades of half a letter grade over the duration of the mentoring relationship. Researchers did not assess statistical significance of the findings nor obtain outcome data from a comparison sample.

The Impact of Mentoring on Academic Achievement of At-Risk Youth. Authors: L. Thompson and L. Kelly-Vance. 2001. In Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 23, No. 3: pp. 227–242. Available for a fee from Elsevier Science Ltd.
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/556/description

Researchers examined the impact of mentoring on the academic achievement of 25 at-risk youth in Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Midlands in Omaha, Nebraska. Study participants came from single parent homes and had one or more of the following risk factors: truancy or runaway behavior; poverty; out-of-home placement; association with delinquent peers; tobacco, alcohol, or drug use; history of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse; family history of domestic violence; family history of substance abuse; physical disability; involvement in the juvenile justice system; academic problems; or frequent school absences, detentions, or suspensions. Mentoring activities took place at school locations, but focused on the mentoring relationship (not academics). Researchers individually administered academic achievement tests to the 12 boys in the treatment group, who had a mentor, and the 13 boys in the control group, who were on a waiting list to receive a mentor, both before and at the end of a 9-month period. Boys in the treatment group made significantly higher academic gains than those in the control group, even after researchers controlled for ability. Researchers suggested that the success of the mentoring program may have been attributable to its well-established processes of screening, matching, and supporting relationships.

School-Based Mentoring: A Closer Look. Author: C. Herrera. 2004. Available free from Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/180_publication.pdf

Researchers studied 212 youth in grades 3 through 5 in 3 Big Brothers Big Sisters programs in Florida, Delaware, and Oklahoma. Close to three-quarters of youth were from single-parent homes; participating youth also had a range of academic and behavioral difficulties. Following up on earlier Public/Private Ventures studies (see Mentoring School-Age Children, above) that found that school-based programs reach more minority mentors as well as underserved youth who may not be reached by community-based programs, the study drew on multiple sources of information—including mentors, youth, teachers, and case managers—to examine questions regarding the quality of mentor-youth relationships in school-based mentoring programs and the potential benefits for youth. Findings supported the strength of school-based mentoring in reaching youth. Matches reported fairly close relationships, though not as frequently as have been reported for community-based programs. Match characteristics, such as whether or not the pair shared the same gender or race, were not associated with youths’ and mentors’ assessments of closeness. Researchers also found that characteristics of the agency operating the program seemed to affect the length of matches and the extent of change in youth. Among the three programs studied, researchers found fewer improvements in youth and more terminated matches in the program experiencing extensive staff turnover and in which mentors reported relatively low levels of agency support. Researchers also cautioned that though youth involved in school-based mentoring appear to benefit from their involvement, benefits may be limited. While they found evidence to support benefits in several social and behavioral indicators of interpersonal and school success, they did not find improvements in academic performance. Researchers posited that school-based mentoring may have more limited effects than community-based mentoring. The majority of benefits accrued to youth in matches lasting longer than a school year (about 9 months).

Juvenile Justice

Gang Prevention Programs for Female Adolescents: An Evaluation. Authors: K. Williams, G. Curry, and M. Cohen. In Responding to Gangs: Evaluation and Research. Editors: W. Reed and S. Decker, pp. 225-263. 2002. Available free from National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/190351.pdf

The authors evaluated three programs designed to prevent and reduce gang membership among female adolescents. The programs provided comprehensive services, including social and life skills training, alternative activities such as sports, informal counseling, tutoring, cultural enhancement, and mentoring and positive role modeling. Due to data collection problems, findings for this study were only reported for Movimiento Ascendencia, a program in Pueblo, Colorado. Researchers sampled 121 girls, with 60 program participants and 61 nonparticipants (the comparison group). Because Movimiento Ascendencia was both an intervention and a prevention program, researchers surveyed girls who belonged to gangs and girls who did not. Participants in the voluntary program averaged 14 years of age. Mentors met with their matches 2 hours a week for 9 months. Researchers found that, for program participants, self-reported delinquency was reduced, and for five of the seven types of delinquent behavior measured (throwing objects, damaging property, running away, stealing goods worth more than $50, and buying, selling, or holding stolen goods), the coefficients were statistically significant when compared to nonparticipants. Program participants reported that the services provided by Movimiento Ascendencia were either “helpful” (63 percent of girls) or “very helpful” (30 percent). Before starting the program, participants tended to have lower grades than nonparticipants and were more likely to have dropped out of school. After completing the program, participants still earned lower grades than nonparticipants, but the gap was no longer statistically significant. Researchers concluded that Movimiento Ascendencia’s comprehensive services contributed to its success with girls at risk for becoming involved with gangs. The National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, and the Family and Youth Services Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, supported the study.

Mentoring as a Drug Prevention Strategy: An Evaluation of Across Ages. Authors: R. Aseltine, M. Dupre, and P. Lamlein. 2000. In Adolescent & Family Health, Vol. 1, No. 1: pp. 11-20. Available for a fee from the Institute for Youth Development.
http://www.afhjournal.org

Researchers undertook a 3-year evaluation of Across Ages, an intergenerational approach to drug and alcohol prevention. The program consisted of three major elements: (1) a mentoring program in which youths are matched with older adults who provide ongoing support and encouragement in weekly interactions, (2) community service activities designed to promote involvement with and better understanding of the frail elderly, and (3) a school-based life skills curriculum. Approximately 400 sixth grade students in Springfield, Massachusetts, an ethnically diverse community with a large proportion of public school students living in low-income families, took part in the evaluation. Students’ classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: the mentor condition, in which students were taught the life skills curriculum, took part in community service activities, and had an elder mentor; the curriculum condition, in which students received the life skills curriculum and took part in community service activities; and the control condition, in which students received no intervention. Youth completed questionnaires on three occasions: prior to the initiation of program activities, at the conclusion of the program, and 6 months after the program ended. Results indicated that mentoring was associated with significantly lower levels of problem behavior and substance use and significantly higher levels of self confidence, self-control, cooperation, and attachment to the school and family. Moreover, students receiving mentoring reported significantly lower levels of alcohol use. In contrast, researchers observed few positive effects of the curriculum condition without the mentoring component.

Positive Support: Mentoring and Depression Among High-Risk Youth. Author: S. Bauldry. 2006. Available free from Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/202_publication.pdf

This report documents an evaluation of mentoring programs run by sites participating in the National Faith-Based Initiative for High-Risk Youth (NFBI), a 12-site demonstration that took place from 1998 to 2004 and tested the effectiveness of collaborations between local faith-based institutions and juvenile justice and law enforcement organizations. Researchers found that mentoring acted as a barrier against depression for high-risk youth, though they noted that it is less likely to serve as a remedy when youth are already depressed. The effects of mentoring on depression led to indirect positive effects including reduced substance use, decreased recidivism, and youths’ increased ability to handle social conflicts. The authors caution that although their findings are promising, forging successful relationships between high-risk youth and mentors remains a challenge (only 30 percent of the young people studied formed a relationship with a mentor that lasted 6 months or longer).

The Protective Influence of Mentoring on Adolescents’ Substance Use: Direct and Indirect Pathways. Authors: J. Rhodes, R. Reddy, and J. Grossman. 2005. In Applied Developmental Science, Vol. 9, No. 1: pp. 31–47. Available free from Dr. Jean Rhodes, University of Massachusetts Boston.
http://psych.umb.edu/faculty/rhodes/files/substanceuse.pdf

Researchers tested a conceptual model hypothesizing that mentoring relationships could reduce substance use directly and indirectly through improvements in adolescents’ self-perceptions and close relationships. Utilizing mentoring data from Big Brothers Big Sisters, researchers initially were unable to substantiate the hypothesized model. However, the model was strongly supported by an evaluation of the youth subgroup engaged in long-term mentoring relationships. Researchers found that matches lasting longer than 12 months significantly impacted the frequency of youths’ substance use as well as their relationships with their parents. The researchers concluded that mentoring can reduce substance use directly, through the mentoring relationship, as well as indirectly, by improving young people’s relationships with their parents. This paper was based on data from the national study of Big Brothers Big Sisters (Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters, listed in Appendix II).

Youth Development

Amachi: Mentoring Children of Prisoners in Philadelphia. Author: L. Jucovy. 2003. Available free from Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/21_publication.pdf

In chapter 4 of this report, the author documents the evaluation of the first 2 years of Amachi, a faith-based mentoring program for children of currently and formerly incarcerated parents, facilitated by churches in the Philadelphia area. Data was collected by Big Brothers Big Sisters, which administered the program in collaboration with Public/Private Ventures, utilizing questionnaires completed by mentors and by mentees’ parents or caregivers. Ninety-three percent of mentors and 82 percent of parents/caregivers reported that the children being mentored had improved self-confidence (61 and 60 percent respectively), and that the children had an improved “sense of future.” The majority of mentors and parents/caregivers reported that the children being mentored showed improved academic performance and classroom behavior.

An Evaluation Study of Mentoring Programs in Connecticut (report executive summary). Author: The Governor’s Prevention Partnership. 2004. Available from the Governor’s Prevention Partnership, (860) 523-8042.
http://www.preventionworksct.org (not currently available online)

Using evaluation tools from What’s Working? Tools for Evaluating Your Mentoring Program (R. Saito, 2001), the authors of this report surveyed nearly 500 pairs of mentors and mentees in Connecticut mentoring programs to determine (1) the effects of mentoring on youth, (2) the extent to which these mentoring relationships meet critical benchmarks of effective mentoring, and (3) the effects of mentoring on mentors. The top five effects of mentoring reported by youth were that (1) they felt there were people who would help them if they needed help; (2) they thought it was important to help others; (3) they had higher expectations of themselves; (4) they felt there were adults who cared about them; and (5) they felt more confident in themselves. The mentoring relationships scored at or above national benchmarks of effective mentoring, and mentors reported being satisfied with the experience. In addition, the authors found that youth who participate in selected Connecticut mentoring programs say they have improved attitudes towards school, get better grades, come to school better prepared, and behave better in class.

An Exploratory Study of Youth Mentoring in an Urban Context: Adolescents’ Perceptions of Relationship Styles. Authors: R. Langhout, J. Rhodes, and L. Osborne. 2004. In Journal of Youth and Adolescence, Vol. 33, No. 4: pp. 293–306. Available for a fee from SpringerLink or free from Dr. Jean Rhodes, University of Massachusetts Boston.
http://www.springerlink.com
http://psych.umb.edu/faculty/rhodes/files/langhout.pdf

Researchers analyzed youths’ accounts of their relationships with mentors and suggested four distinct types of relationships: moderate, unconditionally supportive, active, and low-key. The four groups tended to distinguish themselves from one another according to perceived support, structure, and activity. Relative to youth in the control group (who were not mentored during the study period), youth who characterized their mentor relationships as providing moderate levels of both activity and structure and conditional support derived the largest number of benefits, including decreased alienation from parents, decreased conflict and inequality with friends, and an improved sense of self-worth and school competence. Researchers noted that, based on the results of this study, it may be beneficial to train adult mentors to be less like peers and more like good parents. This paper was based on data from the national study of Big Brothers Big Sisters (Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters, listed in Appendix II).

Making a Difference in the Spirit of Kinship. Author: M. Garringer. 2003. In The National Mentoring Center Bulletin, No. 12: pp. 3–4, 13–14. Available from National Mentoring Center, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/pdf/bull12.pdf

Kinship of Greater Minneapolis, an interdenominational Christian organization that sponsors a community-based mentoring program for youth ages 5 to 15, conducted an internal evaluation of 136 parents, mentors, and children. Survey respondents reported that mentees gained increased responsibility (61 percent of children, 45 percent of parents, and 26 percent of mentors), increased respect (61 percent, 45 percent, and 23 percent), improved social skills (70 percent, 65 percent, and 23 percent), and increased optimism (74 percent, 72 percent, and 61 percent). Of parents who returned surveys, 96 percent felt they and their families had benefited from the program. Evaluators did not use a comparison sample, and they did not collect pretest data.

Faith-Based Organizations. Authors: K. Maton, M. Santo Domingo, and J. King. 2005. In Handbook of Youth Mentoring. Editors: D. DuBois and M. Karcher, 376-391. Available for a fee from Sage Publications.
http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book226176

The authors review and summarize current theory and research related to faith-based mentoring. They define faith-based mentoring programs as follows: mentors are members of a religious congregation, the mentoring program is sponsored by the religious congregation or a faith-based nonprofit organization, and the primary purpose of the mentoring relationship is to contribute to the mentee’s psychosocial development. The authors excluded from their review programs focused primarily on religious socialization, such as Sunday school and Bible study; on group activities, such as youth groups and youth choirs; or on specific-skill development, such as tutoring.

Mentoring and Young People: A Literature Review. Author: J. Hall. 2003. Available free from the SCRE Centre, University of Glasgow.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/resreport/pdf/114.pdf

The author reviews quantitative studies of mentoring in the United States and the United Kingdom and presents what is currently known about evidence of positive outcomes for young people and what program elements make mentoring successful or unsuccessful.

National Research Agenda for Youth Mentoring. Authors: J. Rhodes and D. Dubois. 2004. Available free from MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership.
http://www.mentoring.org/program_staff/files/ResearchAgenda.pdf

Based on the findings of participants in the National Research Summit on Mentoring, the authors present nine priority areas for future research on mentoring: evaluating the new generation of programs, deciphering “best practices”; integrating mentoring with other programs and services; understanding the link between mentoring and academic achievement; improving mentor recruitment, training, and retention; better serving special populations; understanding the role of gender, age, and ethnicity; understanding how mentoring relationships work; and linking research and practice. The authors also recommend creating dedicated funding streams for youth mentoring research, developing a standardized system for tracking and evaluation, conducting a national longitudinal study of youth mentoring, and conducting a multi-site consortium study of youth mentoring programs.

Understanding and Facilitating the Youth Mentoring Movement. Authors: J. Rhodes and D. DuBois. 2006. In Social Policy Report, Vol. 20, No. 3: pp. 1–19. Available free from the Society for Research in Child Development.
http://www.srcd.org/documents/publications/spr/spr20-3.pdf

The authors review current scientific knowledge of youth mentoring and draw two primary conclusions: (1) Youth mentoring relationships are most likely to promote positive outcomes and avoid harm when they are close, consistent, and enduring, and (2) to date, programs have achieved limited success in their efforts to establish and sustain such relationships. The authors also review public policy issues in the field, focusing on factors underlying the popularity of youth mentoring in the United States and recent efforts to extend its reach. They argue that these factors have had some undesirable consequences and call for a better alignment of research and practice, recommending policies that (a) promote evidence-based innovation, rigorous evaluation, and careful replication of youth mentoring programs, and (b) encourage intentional and scientifically informed approaches to mentoring throughout the youth services field.

Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters (reissue of 1995 study). Authors: J. Tierney, J. Grossman, and N. Resch. 2000. Available free from Public/Private Ventures.
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/111_publication.pdf

Researchers studied 10- to 16-year-olds who applied to mentoring programs at 8 Big Brothers Big Sisters sites across the country in 1992 and 1993. The 959 youth, most from single family homes, were randomly assigned to a treatment group, in which they received a mentor, or a control group, in which they were put on a waiting list for 18 months. Most matches lasted about a year. Youth in the treatment group were less likely than their control counterparts to start using illegal drugs and alcohol during the study period, with a greater impact on minority youth. While mentoring had no significant impact on youths’ likelihood of stealing or damaging property, going to the principal’s office, fighting, cheating on a test, or using tobacco, mentored youth were less likely to report hitting someone during the study period. Mentored youth also earned higher grades, skipped fewer classes and fewer days of school, and felt more competent about doing their schoolwork than did control group youth, with girls, particularly minority girls, experiencing larger impacts in these areas than did boys. However, the number of hours youth spent reading and doing homework, the number of times they visited a college and went to a library, and the number of books they read were not affected by mentoring. The quality of youths’ relationships with parents improved with program participation, especially among White boys. Mentored youth also reported lying to their parents less than control group youth and felt more emotional support from their peers. There were no overall impacts on feelings of self-worth, self-confidence, or social acceptance, and there were no differences in participation in social and cultural activities. Although the study did not characterize the type of relationship that formed between the volunteer mentor and the youth, nor relate the type of relationship to the size of impacts observed, researchers emphasized the fact that Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors have a high level of contact with mentees (about 144 hours of direct contact a year) and present themselves as friends rather than teachers or preachers. Results from this study were also published in “Does Mentoring Work? An Impact Study of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program” (J. Grossman and J. Tierney, Evaluation Review,Vol.22 [1998]: 403–426).

Mentoring in America 2005: A Snapshot of the Current State of Mentoring. Author: MENTOR. 2006. Available free from MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership.
http://www.mentoring.org/leaders/files/pollreport.pdf

MENTOR, the National Mentoring Partnership, conducted its second Mentoring in America poll in 2005 to assess the state of mentoring in the United States. Researchers conducted two waves of surveys of 1,000 participants each to ensure a sufficient number of mentors were in the sample. With these numbers, they could project a given percentage in the sample out to the population within plus or minus 3 percent at a confidence level of 95 percent. Survey designers defined mentoring as a relationship, formal or informal, between an adult and a young person age 10 to 18 that occurred in the previous 12 months. Based on their survey results, researchers concluded that about 3 million adults have formal, one-to-one mentoring relationships with young people, a 19 percent increase since the first Mentoring in American poll in 2002. They also determined that 96 percent of existing mentors would recommend mentoring to others, and that about 44 million American adults who are not currently mentoring a young person would seriously consider it. While the average mentoring relationship lasts 9 months, 38 percent last at least 1 year. The majority of mentors are willing to work with youth in unique or difficult situations, including children of incarcerated parents, youth with disabilities, and immigrant youth.

Volunteers Mentoring Youth: Implications for Closing the Mentoring Gap. Authors: J. Foster-Bey, N. Dietz, and R. Grimm, Jr. 2006. Available free from the Corporation for National and Community Service.
http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/06_0503_mentoring_report.pdf

Researchers analyzed the 2005 Volunteer Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national survey administered monthly to more than 60,000 U.S. households, to collect information on volunteer mentors. (The 2005 Volunteer Supplement was the first time respondents were asked whether one of their volunteer activities was mentoring youth.) Researchers found that 16- to 24-year-olds were the most likely to mentor, and volunteers 65 years and older were least likely to mentor; 41 percent of volunteers who mentor youth were between the ages of 41 and 59. Black volunteers are more likely than White volunteers to be mentors, though minorities volunteer at lower rates than do Whites. The same percentage of male and female volunteers (18 percent) mentor, though men volunteer at lower rates than do women. Researchers found that almost 43 percent of volunteers who mentor do so through religious organizations. Mentors typically volunteer more than other volunteers: volunteers who mentor serve a median of 80 hours annually, while volunteers who do not mentor serve a median of 40 hours annually.

Benefits and Costs of Prevention and Early Intervention Programs for Youth. Author: Washington State Institute for Public Policy. 2004. Available free from Washington State Institute for Public Policy.
http://www.wsipp.wa.gov/rptfiles/04-07-3901.pdf

Researchers analyzed the costs and benefits of research-based prevention and early intervention programs for youth, including two mentoring programs, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Quantum Opportunities Program. To conduct the analysis, they constructed a benefit-cost model, assigning monetary values to changes in young people’s education, crime, substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, teen pregnancy, and public assistance outcomes. The researchers found that Big Brothers Big Sisters resulted in $1 of benefit per dollar of cost and that Quantum Opportunities resulted in $.42 of benefit per dollar of cost.