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Cited by 72Mentoring and Academic DevelopmentYouth Development and Social SupportCrime Patterns and Interventions

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do: A Qualitative Interview Study of How and Why Youth Mentoring Relationships End

Spencer, Renée, Basualdo-Delmonico, Antoinette, Walsh, Jill, Drew, Alison L.·2017·Youth & Society
DOI 10.1177/0044118x14535416
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Abstract

Endings in youth mentoring relationships have received little empirical attention despite the fact that many relationships do end. The present study utilized qualitative interview data collected from participants in a longitudinal study of community-based mentoring relationships to examine how and why the relationships ended and how participants experienced these endings. Interviews with 48 pairs of mentors and youth and the youth’s parent or guardian conducted at the time the mentoring relationship ended were analyzed. Three types of procedural endings (formal goodbye planned and completed, formal goodbye planned but not completed, and agency ended) were identified as were five main reasons for relationship endings (changes in life circumstances, youth dissatisfaction or disinterest, mentor dissatisfaction, gradual dissolution, and mentor abandonment). Interrelationships between ending types and reasons are discussed, as are the roles of relationship strength and program support in these processes.

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  • Weaker relationships were more likely to end as a result of mentors' or mentees' dissatisfaction with the relationship, or to dissolve without formal termination.

    “Weaker relationships were more likely to end as a result of mentors’ or mentees’ dissatisfaction with the relationship, or to dissolve without formal termination [116,118,119,120,121].”

    From Unpacking Community-Based Youth Mentoring Relationships: An Integrative Review (2021) · cites this paper as [120]

  • Qualitative studies in the U.S. and Australia identified several reasons for early termination, including unforeseen changes in life circumstances, mentees' dissatisfaction, disappointment or disinterest, mentor dissatisfaction, unrealistic expectations, mentors' lack of relational skills, parents' interference and lack of parental support, gradual dissolution, and abandonment.

    “Their reported reasons for early termination included genuinely unforeseen changes in the mentors’ and mentees’ life circumstances, mentees’ dissatisfaction, disappointment or disinterest, mentor dissatisfaction, unrealistic expectations on the part of the mentors or the mentees, the mentors’ lack of relational skills, parents’ interference and lack of parental support, gradual dissolution with”

    From Unpacking Community-Based Youth Mentoring Relationships: An Integrative Review (2021) · cites this paper as [120]

  • The perceived similarity between BBBS mentors' ideal versus actual roles were significant predictors of mentors' expressed intentions to preserve the relationship, whereas mentors' feelings of frustration and ineffectiveness compared with their initial expectations were shown to account for early termination.

    “The perceived similarity between BBBS mentors’ ideal versus actual roles were significant predictors of mentors’ expressed intentions to preserve the relationship [144], whereas mentors’ feelings of frustration and ineffectiveness compared with their initial expectations were shown to account for early termination, as reported in qualitative studies [116,117,120].”

    From Unpacking Community-Based Youth Mentoring Relationships: An Integrative Review (2021) · cites this paper as [120]

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Authors
Spencer, R., Basualdo-Delmonico, A., Walsh, J., & Drew, A. L.
Affiliations
  • Boston University (US)
  • Boston University School of Social Work, MA, USA
Corresponding author
Spencer, Renée
ORCID
Venue
Youth & Society
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2016-08-01
Volume
49
Issue
4
Pages
438-460
ISSN
  • 0044-118X (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-8499
DOI
10.1177/0044118x14535416
OpenAlex
W2312534820
Cited by
72
References
27
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 1
FWCI
5.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Youth & Society (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mentoring and Academic Development
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
Keywords
youth mentoring, breakup, relationship strength, program support, community mentoring

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