Cited by 134Mentoring and Academic DevelopmentYouth Development and Social SupportCareer Development and Diversity

Capturing the magic: Assessing the quality of youth mentoring relationships

Deutsch, Nancy L., Spencer, Renée·2009·New Directions for Youth Development

Abstract

Mentoring programs pose some special challenges for quality assessment because they operate at two levels: that of the dyadic relationship and that of the program. Fully assessing the quality of youth mentoring relationships requires understanding the characteristics and processes of individual relationships, which are the point of service for mentoring. Yet we also must consider the program components that support their development. A number of factors have been indicated to contribute to quality mentoring relationships, including frequency and consistency of contact, feelings of connection between mentor and protégé, and the mentor's approach. Program features linked with quality relationships include mentor screening and training and expectations for frequency of contact. Assessing the quality of the relationship directly requires measuring both the mentor's and protégé's perceptions of important dimensions of the relationship, such as goals, engagement, and closeness. Single-point-in-time surveys or interviews, using both validated measures and open-ended questions, may be used as tools for assessing individual relationships at the conclusion of programs. Short surveys, logs, and observations may be useful for periodic or ongoing assessment of quality for support and intervention purposes. Focus groups and surveys of mentors may also provide useful information for assessing program components needed to support the development and maintenance of high quality relationships. The benefits and drawbacks of each of these methods for assessing relational quality are discussed. Mentoring programs are provided with references for specific tools that may be used to assess relational quality.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/yd.296

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Considerable gaps remain in understanding which critical relational processes generate lasting benefits for young people in CBM.

    “However, despite the recent surge in mentoring literature, considerable gaps remain in our understanding of which are the critical relational processes that generate lasting benefits for young people in CBM [26].”
  • This overview extends previous efforts that were more limited in scope, typically focusing on specific publications or research to support conceptual or theoretical literature, but did not conduct a methodical search of literature or a broad systematic review.

    “This overview extends previous efforts (e.g., [10,26,28]), which were more limited in scope, typically focusing on specific publications or research to support the conceptual or theoretical literature, but did not conduct a methodical search of literature or a broad systematic review.”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Deutsch, N. L., & Spencer, R.
Affiliations
  • University of Virginia (US)
  • Boston University (US)
Venue
New Directions for Youth Development
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2009-03
Volume
2009
Issue
121
Pages
47-70
ISSN
  • 1533-8916 (ISSN-L)
  • 1537-5781
OpenAlex
W1987086813
Cited by
134
References
45
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 12
FWCI
10.40
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • New Directions for Youth Development (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mentoring and Academic Development
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
Keywords
youth mentoring, mentoring relationship quality, quality assessment, mentor-protégé relationships, program evaluation, contact frequency, relationship closeness, assessment instruments
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adolescent Behavior, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Mentors

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review