Understanding the experience of mentor families in therapeutic youth mentoring
Abstract
The fragility of youth‐adult mentoring relationships requires innovative program components to support and sustain these relationships and enhance participant outcomes. The current study presents and explores the experience of a unique mentoring program component known as Mentor Families, in which three to four pairs of mentors and mentees engage in structured activities together. Grounded theory methods were utilized to explore the experiences of mentors (n = 212) and mentees (n = 87) involved in Mentor Families within a mentoring program for adolescents at risk for delinquency. Findings from the current study reveal that Mentor Families provides a place (a) for mentors to receive support and supervision, (b) for mentors and mentees to belong, and (c) for mentees to grow and learn. These findings suggest that Mentor Families warrants further investigation as to how they may positively affect mentoring relationships and programs.
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Integrating structured group activities within the relationship was associated with mentors' satisfaction in a short-term therapeutic mentoring program.
“Finally, integrating structured group activities within the relationship was associated with mentors’ satisfaction in a short-term therapeutic mentoring program, as reported in a qualitative study [78].”
From Unpacking Community-Based Youth Mentoring Relationships: An Integrative Review (2021) · cites this paper as [78]
The emotional component is the most frequently engaged and includes aspects of trust, reliability, consistency, support, and authenticity in mentoring programs in all formats operating with American, European, Israeli, and Australian youth.
“The emotional component, which is the most frequently engaged, includes aspects of trust, reliability, consistency, support, and authenticity in mentoring programs in all formats operating with American, European, Israeli, and Australian youth [78,80,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92,93,94,95,96].”
From Unpacking Community-Based Youth Mentoring Relationships: An Integrative Review (2021) · cites this paper as [78]
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- Authors
- Weiler, L. M., Zimmerman, T. S., Haddock, S., & Krafchick, J.
- Affiliations
- Colorado State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Weiler, Lindsey M.
- Venue
- Journal of Community Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-12-09
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 80-98
- ISSN
- 0090-4392 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-6629
- OpenAlex
- W2132582344
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 2.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Community Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mentoring and Academic Development
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Counseling Practices and Supervision
- Keywords
- mentoring relationships, sense of belonging, youth development
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