MENTORING YOUTH Jean Rhodes. Professor Master Lecture University of Massachusetts Master Lecture International Week MENTORING YOUTH

Dank je wel! Betty Bijvoets, Szilvia Simon and Hendrik Jan Hoekstra

Favorable evaluation findings Declining availability of nonparent adults Growth of advocacy organizations Heightened volunteerism, service learning

                                                                                                  

I need the words on the bottom to be legible, so I think I need to keep it this big

Research to practice Practice Research

How effective is youth mentoring? Treatment vs. control 0.20 = “small” effect, 0.50 “= medium” effect, 0.80 = “large” effect.

n = 213 Average Effect Size = .21 Raposa, E., Card, N., Schwartz, S., Kanchewa, S., Sykes, L., Burton, S., Hussein, S., Kupersmidt, J., & Rhodes, J. (in preparation) When a relationship is the tool of change: A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of youth mentoring programs.   Records from previous meta-analyses, technical reports, and other sources n = 213 Records identified through database screening n = 16,242 Identify Screen Records Excluded n = 16,376 Records Screened n = 16,455 Eligibility Studies where data were unavailable n = 8 Studies Eligible for Inclusion n = 73 Inclusion Studies Included in Meta-Analysis n = 69 Average Effect Size = .21

Study level variables (moderators) associated with different effects Curriculum ✔ Mentor Education ✔ Evaluation Design ✔ Mentor Age ✔

Effect sizes 0.5 Medium Effect 0.4 0.3 Empirically- Size of Effect on Youth Outcomes Based 0.2 Small Practices Effect Theory-Based 0.1 Practices -0.1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Number of Practices

When are programs most beneficial? How does mentoring promote positive youth development? What are the implications for policy, practice, and research? As I said

Stronger effects when… Mentors who Play an active, advocacy role Older, better educated Are sensitive to socioeconomic & cultural influences Have higher self-efficacy Hold positive attitudes toward youth

Stronger effects when… Relationships characterized by consistency joint agenda setting closeness (mentor/youth perspective r = .23) empathy, closeness, trust, attunement duration Therapist-patient convergence is closer to .35

Stronger effects when… Programs characterized by careful recruitment Training with curricula monitoring multi-modal match on interest

How effective is youth mentoring? When are programs most beneficial? How does mentoring promote positive youth development? What are the implications for policy, practice, and research?

Pathways of mentor influence Scholastic Competence .25 .26 .08 Grades .29 Quality of Parental relationship Self-worth .22 .25 .19 .18 Mentoring Skipping School .09 .26 .11 -.28 School value Rhodes , Grossman, & Resch, (2002). Child Development, (2002)

Pathways of mentor influence Quality of Parental relationship -.46 Self-worth .23 .18 Mentoring -.08 -.04 Substance Use .10 .14 Quality of Peer relationships Rhodes, Reddy, & Grossman (2005) Applied Development Science

Pathways of mentor influence Academic Attitudes .25 .78 Grades .27 Quality of Teacher relationship Quality of Mentoring Self-worth .27 .53 .18 School Behavior .13 .09 .32 Quality of Parent Relationship -.28 Chan,Rhodes, Schwartz, & Lowe (2013). Journal of School Psychology

How effective is youth mentoring? When are programs most beneficial? How does mentoring promote positive youth development? What are the implications for police and practice Research Directions

Implications Reward sustainability and quality over growth Consider alternative strategies Youth-initiated Intentional mentoring Promote evidence-based practice include rigorous evaluation measured replication and dissemination Make it so the points (but not the subpoints) appear one at a time (on click)

Resistance to evidence Art over science No motivation Focus on growth Inscruitable researchers Everyone has won and all must have prizes

Different definitions of evidence

But Inconsistent definition and conceptualization of mentoring Crisp & Cruz (2009) found 50 definitions of mentoring gin the research literature Mentoring.org

umbmentoring.org

Relationship rich settings One-on-one mentoring

Gallup-Purdue Poll (2015)

No mentor? FIRST GEN YEARS LOANS to grad. LARGE SCHOOL Undergraduate Loans LARGE SCHOOL No mentor?

Continuum of care Per Informal Mentoring New Mentoring Models Professional counseling Formal Mentoring Informal Mentoring Scaffolded

Closer relationships with instructors Greater intention to recruit support A higher Grade Point Average

Research Product Development. Distribution MENTOR/NMP Implementation Youth Serving Organizations

Align Research and Practice