title: The Long-Term Economic Benefits of Natural Mentoring Relationships for Youth.
abstract: Natural mentors have been shown to help improve psychological and educational outcomes of youth, and may serve an important role for youth experiencing risk in the home. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we investigated the associations between natural mentors during youth and income during early adulthood, including how these relations were moderated by the absence of a father figure and race. We also estimated the lifetime economic benefits to having a natural mentor. The presence of a natural mentor alone did not have a significant impact on annual earnings during adulthood. However, youth without a father but who had a male mentor earned significantly more, on average, than those without a male mentor. These effects were more pronounced in a subsample of African American youth. The net present value of total lifetime benefits to having a male natural mentor was approximately $190,000 for all fatherless youth and $458,000 for African American fatherless youth. These results suggest that natural mentors play a crucial role in economic outcomes for youth, which may vary by sociodemographic factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, 1570 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523-1570, USA, ztimpe@rams.colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Zach C
authors.initials: ZC
authors.lastname: Timpe
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lunkenheimer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007198:Indians, North American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008611:Mentors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012737:Sex Factors; D020954:Single-Parent Family / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data