Understanding the Mentoring Process:
A Longitudinal Study of Mentoring Relationships between Adolescents and Adults
Project Overview
The purpose of this study is to learn more about how mentoring relationships develop and what makes them work well. Over the next 2 years, we are inviting more than 120 youth-mentor matches made through the community and school programs of the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay to participate. Mentors and youth complete surveys and open-ended interviews before their initial match meeting and every 3 months after that for the first year of their match. The parents or guardians of the youth also complete surveys and interviews before the match is made and then again after the match has been active for 1 year or when the match ends, whichever comes first. Those matches that continue into a second year will be followed every 6 months.
This study is among the first to so closely follow the development of mentoring relationships and gather detailed information from the participants’ own perspectives. We are exploring different themes and trends in these data including:
- the hopes and expectations that mentors, youth, and parents have for these relationships
- what makes for a close, enduring and effective mentoring relationship
- the role that parents play in the mentoring process
- how differences in racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds shape the development of these relationships
The findings from this study will allow us to identify some factors that contribute to these relationships going well and areas where challenges arise, which can in turn inform and improve mentoring program practices.
This research is being funded by the William T. Grant Foundation Scholar Award Program.
Project Staff
Renée Spencer, Ed.D., LICSW - Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor, Boston University School of Social Work
rspenc@bu.edu
Terry Lewis, LICSW – Project Coordinator
Doctoral Student, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Sociology & Social Work
tolewis@bu.edu 617-353-1407
Toña Basualdo-Delmonico – Project Associate
Doctoral Student, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Sociology & Social Work abdelmon@bu.edu 617-353-1407
Project Presentations
Spencer, R., Lewis, T. O., Basualdo-Delmonico, A., & Frederiksen, B. (2008, March) Parents’ perspectives on youth mentoring relationships. Poster presented at the Society for Research on Adolescence Biennial Meeting, Chicago, IL.
Spencer, R., Lewis, T. O., Basualdo-Delmonico, A. (2007, October). Mentoring in a multicultural society: A complex relationship. In L. Fortuna, Chair, Mentoring, teaching, and treating urban minority youth across community and individual differences. Paper presented at the 7th annual Institute for the Study and Promotion of Race and Culture Diversity Challenge Conference, Boston College, Boston, MA
