Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: a meta-analytic review.
We used meta-analysis to review 55 evaluations of the effects of mentoring programs on youth. Overall, findings provide evidence of only a modest or small benefit of program participation for the average youth. Program effects are enhanced significantly, however, when greater numbers of both theory-based and empirically based "best practices" are utilized and when strong relationships are formed between mentors and youth. Youth from backgrounds of environmental risk and disadvantage appear most likely to benefit from participation in mentoring programs. Outcomes for youth at-risk due to personal vulnerabilities have varied substantially in relation to program characteristics, with a noteworthy potential evident for poorly implemented programs to actually have an adverse effect on such youth. Recommendations include greater adherence to guidelines for the design and implementation of effective mentoring programs as well as more in-depth assessment of relationship and contextual factors in the evaluation of programs.
DuBois
David L
DL
Department of Psychology, University of Missouri at Columbia, 65211, USA. DuBoisD@missouri.edu
Holloway
Bruce E
BE
Valentine
Jeffrey C
JC
Cooper
Harris
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D019985:Benchmarking; D003256:Community Participation; D003376:Counseling / Q000592:standards*; D003659:Decision Making, Organizational; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008611:Mentors; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012917:Social Adjustment