title: The utility of mentoring homeless adolescents: a pilot study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the intuitive appeal and popularity of mentoring programs, mentoring has shown only limited success for positively impacting children's psychosocial functioning. Furthermore, we were not able to identify a study that examined the potential utility of mentoring for homeless adolescents.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the impact of mentoring among a group of homeless adolescents who were also receiving substance abuse treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  This pilot study examined the impact of mentoring among homeless adolescents (n = 90) between the ages of 14 and 20 years who also received substance abuse treatment. A longitudinal design was used in which adolescents were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and following the completion of treatment at 6 months postbaseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Findings showed that adolescents with a history of physical or sexual abuse attended more mentoring sessions. Also, mentoring in addition to treatment was associated with a decrease in problem consequences associated with substance use. However, more mentoring with fewer treatment sessions was associated with an increase in internalizing behaviors. Only these two outcomes were associated with mentoring.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While not providing resounding support for mentoring, this study suggests that examining the mentor/mentee relationship may be a fruitful line of future research given that significant variability among the mentor/mentee pairs was noted for some outcomes of interest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA. sbartle@ehe.osu.edu
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bartle-Haring
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Slesnick
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Gizem
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Erdem
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Buettner
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D018453:Homeless Youth; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors; D010865:Pilot Projects; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult