It is estimated that three million youth in the United States are in formal mentoring relationships in which volunteers are matched with children and adolescents, and this number continues to rise (MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, 2006).Many more youth have meaningful, natural mentoring relationships with extended family members, teachers, neighbors, coaches, and other caring non-parental adults.Anecdotal accounts of mentoring relationships and their life-transforming effects on young people abound in the media, including stories of caring adults helping young people to discover their strengths and, in doing so, enhance their feelings of self-esteem and confidence.But how does the research bear on this topic?Below, we review the highlights of this research, first discussing different approaches to youth mentoring and then summarizing the research on (1) the effects of mentoring relationships on self-esteem, (2) factors that predict variation in relationship effectiveness, and (3) the processes through which these relationships exert such effects. APPROACHES TO YOUTH MENTORINGYouth mentoring is generally defined as a trusting relationship between a young person and an older, more experienced non-parental figure who provides guidance, support, and encouragement to the mentee (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).A range of relationships, from those that develop naturally to those that are formally created through community-and school-based programs, fall under this definition. Natural MentorsNatural mentoring relationships typically arise within social networks, and are characterized by bonds between older, more experienced adults and younger protégés.These relationships are typically between youth and extended family members, such as uncles, aunts, grandparents and godparents, but extend to neighbors, teachers, afterschool providers, guidance counselors, church members, and other caring adults.Natural mentors often provide ongoing guidance, instruction, and encouragement, facilitating the adolescents' transition into adulthood.Unfortunately, many youth do not readily find older, supportive adults beyond the boundaries of their household.Several factors, including overcrowded schools, parental concerns about safety, and an overall loss of community cohesiveness and social capital have dramatically reduced the availability of caring adults and restricted their opportunities for informal contact with youth.To address the needs of youth who lack attention from caring adults, people are increasingly turning to volunteer mentoring programs.There is a wide range of approaches to this more formal youth mentoring, but the two most common are community-and school-based programs.In addition, mentoring is being increasingly integrated into other programs for youth.
EEditor’s Note: This article is unique in that it consists of five separate parts, each written by its own author(s). This unusual approach has allowed us to show how youth-adult partnerships are being implemented in four very different environments with different functions. Yet across these environments common themes, strategies, and lessons can be learned about the practices that are most effective in implementing and maintaining youth-adult partnership.
New scientific discoveries have put a much different perspective on our understanding of adolescent behavior. Research now suggests that the human brain is still maturing during the adolescent years. The developing brain may help explain why adolescents sometimes make decisions that are risky and can lead to safety or health concerns, including unique vulnerabilities to drug abuse. This new science can be useful in revising prevention strategies to be more effective.
Adolescent self-injury is one of the most perplexing and intimidating presenting difficulties mental health, school, and healthcare professionals will encounter in their practice settings. Janis Whitlock, Director of the Cornell Research Program on Self-Injurious Behavior in Adolescents and Young Adults, has found in her research that 5-8% of adolescents are actively cutting, scratching, pinching, burning, or severely bruising themselves in a given week (Whitlock, personal communication, September 28, 2009). In addition, many of these youth symptom switch?that is they engage in other self-destructive behaviors such as bulimia, substance abuse, and sexually risky behaviors?which makes it more challenging to treat them. For many adolescents, self-injury and other self-destructive behaviors are employed as an attempt to get quick relief from emotional distress and to soothe themselves (Selekman, 2006, 2009). In some cases, having been repeatedly invalidated by and emotionally disconnected from their parents and other significant people in their lives has led them to feeling emotionally numb inside. Thus, by cutting or burning themselves they feel something (Miller, 2005; Selekman & Shulem, 2007; Whitlock et al., 2008). This article presents a family competency-based treatment approach that capitalizes on the strengths and resources of the adolescent, family members, key people from their social networks, and helping professionals from larger systems to co-construct solutions to resolve their presenting difficulties. Throughout the article, I provide therapeutic tools and strategies that I have found effective in my clinical practice of working with self-injuring youth and their families over the past 25 years.
Much controversy surrounds the consequences of adolescent paid work, with researchers coming to diverse conclusions about whether work is good, work is bad, work doesn't matter (the purported effects of employment are spurious, dependent on processes of selection), and work matters for some youth but not others, depending on their prior backgrounds and attributes and the contexts of their employment. This article summarizes findings from the Youth Development Study, a long-term, ongoing longitudinal study that has followed a community-based panel from middle adolescence through early adulthood. The findings address this debate and support the final perspective-that the effects of teen employment on the successful transition to adulthood depend on its patterning through the years of high school (most invested, steady, sporadic, and occasional employment patterns) and its quality. Moreover, the YDS shows that patterns of teenage employment are linked to the social origins and motivations of youth upon entry to high school, and suggest that teenagers exercise agency as they build human capital during high school through education and work experience. The article concludes with a discussion of what parents, counselors, and others can do to help children make sound employment-related decisions during adolescence so as to assure effective career exploration and a successful school-to-work transition.
Adolescence is a time of increased desire for decision-making opportunities, with some decisions subject to restriction. Learning to make decisions, experience related positive and negative consequences, learn from these outcomes, and navigate the multiple influences on decision-making is an important developmental task for adolescents. This article provides an overview of adolescent decision-making, including definitions of competent decision-making and decision-making models, and the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and contextual influences on adolescent decision-making. This article also discusses implications of adolescent decision-making that are relevant to health educators, healthcare providers, policy makers, and adolescent researchers.
Traci is about to graduate from high school and is planning on attending a state college in the fall. Graduation and college were not always part of Traci’s plans. In ninth grade, as a Hmong immigrant in an urban high school, she struggled both with feelings of not belonging and with personal problems. Unable to adjust, she dropped out. Fortunately, Traci entered a dropout prevention program and returned to high school, where she was supported by a mentor in solving issues and developing her considerable talent as a performance poet, which helped her find a niche in the school.
The transition to adulthood is a stressful period of life in which adolescents cope with various goals and demands. Many youth experience conflicts with peers and family members; they may experiment with smoking, alcohol, and drugs; and they may be faced with dietary problems, engage in sexually risky behavior, or drive recklessly. Educational and psychological interventions aim to prevent such risk behaviors. However, there is a difference between prevention and promotion (e.g., Nikitin & Freund, 2008). Coping to prevent adversity is different than coping to promote personal growth (proactive coping). Coping theory can account for this difference and can provide further perspectives that may facilitate the design of interventions (Schwarzer & Luszczynska, 2006). This article will differentiate proactive coping from preventive coping. It will also provide a broader scope by including reactive and anticipatory coping.
