Youth Mentoring: Theory, Research, and Practice

“Operationally, this definition meant that our review encompassed programs employing a range of different formats and strategies, some of which fall at the conceptual boundaries of traditional conceptualizations of youth mentoring (DuBois & Karcher, 2005a).”

“Reports suggest there are at least 4,500 agencies providing mentoring (DuBois & Karcher, 2005), including 500 Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America agencies.”

“(AOL Time Warner Foundation 2002; DuBois and Karcher 2005).”

“Definitions of mentoring vary, but common elements can be identified (DuBois and Karcher 2005; DuBois et al. 2011; MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership 2009).”

“It has been suggested that school connectedness is the single most effective aspect of the school environment in predicting healthier behaviors and better health.11 As a result, school-based mentoring is the fastest growing form of mentoring in the United States.12 Submitted April 18, 2014; accepted June 6, 2014.”

“…relationships Mentoring interventions have proliferated in the United States across the past decade, with more than 4,500 agencies now providing this type of service for youth and government agencies allocating millions of dollars to support them (Dubois & Karcher, 2005; Rhodes, 2002).”

“Among the reports and reviews there is considerable variation in what activities are considered mentoring essentials and which are optional (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“Unfortunately, the practice and promotion of youth mentoring has outpaced its empirical support (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“One important outstanding issue examined in the current study relates to whether paid reentry professionals might be able to also establish the kinds of supportive and caring relationships (bonding) thought to promote change in community-mentoring relationships (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“…on agencies and volunteers but are at odds with the types of practices that are needed to establish and sustain high-quality mentoring relationships (DuBois et al., 2002; DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Herrera et al., JEAN RHODES received her PhD in clinical/community psychology from DePaul University.”

“After the summit, a policy brief was published by MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, National Research Agenda for Youth Mentoring (Rhodes & DuBois, 2004).”

“These trends have reduced the burden that is placed on agencies and volunteers, but are inconsistent with the types of practices that are likely needed to establish and sustain high-quality mentoring relationships (DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002; DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“Youth Mentoring Youth mentoring is often touted as an effective prevention tool (Dortch 2000), but there is a tendency for the practice and promotion of youth mentoring to outpace its empirical support (DuBois and Karcher 2005; Rhodes 2008).”

“Definitions of mentoring vary, but there are common elements that can be identified across definitions (DuBois & Karcher, 2005, DuBois, et al., 2011).”

“While scholars and practitioners alike do not agree on a definition of mentoring, many base their efforts on a widely held view that mentoring involves acting as a guide, advisor and counselor to a mentee (Jacobi, 1991; Roberts, 2000; DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“Youth mentoring is characterized as an individualized, supportive relationship between a young person and non-parental adult (DuBois and Karcher 2005; Keller and Pryce 2010).”

“The literature also documents that many youth considered to be “at risk” for a less than optimal developmental outcome, benefit from the presence, support, and nurturance of naturally occurring mentoring relationship (Dubois & Karcher, 2005; Zimmerman, Bingenheimer, & Behrendt, 2005).”

“This form of mentoring is generally geared toward at-risk populations, its chief aim being to enhance the quality of bonding (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“All these types of mentoring provide a variety of benefits to the youth or students involved from positive behavioral outcomes to academics, and even to health-related outcomes (DuBois & Karcher, 2005; DuBois & Silverthorn, 2005; Eby et al., 2008).”

“Durlak and DuPre (2008) reported similar findings in their meta-analysis reviewing a broad range of community interventions. We interpret these findings in two ways. First, it could indicate a lack of substantial variance in whether or not mentoring programs include some form of initial training because initial traini…”

“In recent years, mentoring has been put forward as one way to help young people navigate this transition and encourage positive youth development (see Dubois and Karcher, 2005, 2014; Dubois et al., 2011).”

“Most definitions of youth mentoring, like this one, emphasize three elements (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“E-mail: strappc@wou.edu © 2014 Taylor & Francis Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 2014 Vol. 22, No. 3, 190–209, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13611267.2014.927096 Mentoring programs have become increasingly popular as a preventive intervention strategy for youth (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“School-based mentoring (SBM) is the most popular, fastest growing, most funded and most studied form of youth mentoring in the USA (DuBois & Karcher, 2006; Karcher, 2008; Wheeler, Keller, & Dubois, 2010).”

“Although there are some other fields in which mentoring is a thriving issue, this paper will focus on youth mentoring (DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Keller, 2010).”

“Currently, mentoring is one intervention often used to attempt to improve social and academic outcomes for children and youth at risk (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“Various definitions have been proposed in previous research (DuBois & Karcher, 2005) with no commonly used definition of youth mentoring in either research or practice (Stewart & Openshaw, 2014).”

“This kind of school-based mentoring appears to be a promising intervention for preventing negative consequence of peer victimization [14,26,44].”

“Mentoring, defined as the pairing of a student at risk for academic or social failure with a caring adult (DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Karcher, Davis, & Powell, 2002), is one individualized support that is often implemented.”

“This article focuses exclusively on informal mentorship which has emerged as a proven strategy for increasing children’s wellbeing, mental health, and positive life outcomes (DuBois, & Karcher, 2005; Hurd & Zimmerman, 2014).”

“This finding suggests that organisations who administer mentoring programmes for this specific mentee group may need to emphasise in the recruitment, establishment of roles and expectations, and training of mentors the value of adopting an authoritative, non-hierarchical relationship in contrast to a more traditional…”

“Generally, it aims to help, support and enhance performance of mentees during learning and training, and thus prevent problematic behaviours during the training.(5,6) Since mentoring is a symbiotic mutual relationship between two parties, one of the important factors is the mentor’s behaviours towards the mentees duri…”

“On the other side, the figure of a teacher as mentor (guide, advisor and counselor to a mentee) has been promoted [7], [8], seeing mentoring as less hierarchical but more relational and reciprocal in comparison to teaching [9].”

“One article (Britner et al., 2006) and several chapters in a book edited by DuBois and Karcher (2005) reviewed the literature for specific adolescent populations such as pregnant teens, juvenile offenders, and academically at-risk youths.”

“The current study utilized data from a large-scale evaluation of enhancements to multiple mentoring programs in the United States (Jarjoura et al., 2018).”

“consisted of adult volunteers as mentors, one-on-one mentor/mentee relationships, and the freedom to engage in different activities across different settings at a mutually convenient time [18, 19].”

“As more schools strive to develop positive, supportive plans for individual students at risk, school-based mentoring is becoming more prevalent as a school based intervention (Baker & Maguire, 2005; DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Herrera & Karcher, 2013; Keller, 2007).”

“youth mentoring, Add Health, developmental assets, racial inequities, Critical Race Theory, machine learning Naturally occurring mentors step beyond their social roles to support younger people’s personal and professional development (Dubois & Karcher, 2005).”

“Benefits to mentees, such as those described above, occurred when mentees perceived a strong, stable bond with their mentor, expressed through trust, care, and respect (Dubois & Karcher, 2005; Jekielek, Hair, Moore, & Scarupa, 2002).”

“The effectiveness of the integral mentoring program may partly be because the striving for excellence (synonymous in our study with orientation towards achievement) is a key element in mentoring (Clayton et al., 2013; DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“Yet, with care and time, a community can develop and be maintained online similar to face-to-face mentoring (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“…different formal and informal mentoring program structures, including one-on-one, group-based, peer, faculty/staff, race-based, gender-based, intergenerational, academic, work-based, career-based, school-based, faith-based, and community-based (DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Miller, 2008; Taylor, 2007).”

“Esta imagem de um indivíduo mais velho que proporciona suporte e orientação, o mentor, permaneceu então até à atualidade (DuBois & Karcher, 2005).”

“There has been a significant expansion of personal mentoring programs for youth and adults with behavioral problems, including those exhibiting criminal and violent behavior over the past 20 years (e.g., Brown & Ross, 2010; Buck, 2019; DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Nixon, 2020).”

“DuBois & Karcher (2005) and Rhodes (2005) define mentoring as a strategy for positive youth development, where the word „positive“ can also be explained as adaptive, leading to engagement in satisfactory relationships, beneficial activities and fullfiling developental tasks.”

“A mentoring relationship which is terminated prematurely risks reinforcing the mentee’s negative perceptions of themselves and of adults, (Karcher, 2005; Spencer & Basualdo-Delmonico, 2013).”

“Mentoring programs may be operated by independent non-profit organisations; initiatives of schools, counties or other public entities; or partnerships between private and public institutions (DuBois & Karcher 2005).”

““One of the most important reasons for bringing the practice of mentoring into alignment with a solid research base is to ensure that mentors and mentoring interventions do no harm” (DuBois & Karcher, 2005, p.9).”

“Finally, mentors and mentees develop strong emotional bonds (DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Gettings & Wilson, 2014).”

“Specifically within the field of mentoring, programs which operate without an adherence to recognized best practices and validated by the most recent empirical findings are likely to do more harm than good to a population of vulnerable children and youth (DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Rhodes, 2002).”

“In this context the writings of Michael Karcher are especially relevant (DuBois and Karcher 2005; Karcher et al. 2005).”

“…by an emotional bond between an experienced individual (a mentor) and a less experienced individual (prot´eg´e) that offers guidance and a variety of career development, learning opportunities, and personal growth to the prot´eg´e (DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Eby et al., 2007; Nabi et al., 2025).”

“…cant and relevant person in the student’s life, someone who cared (Best & Decker, 1985; Bliss & Tetley, 2006; Cowie, Smith, Boulton & Laver, 1994; Dubois & Karcher, 2005; Elias, 2006; Frey & Walker 2007; Gianesin, 2007; Goren, 2006; Haynes, 2006; Horner & Krawczyk, 2006; Knobel, 2006; Lang,…”

“session/s which involve parents and educators, and (4) sexuality education and awareness which looks at disadvantages, challenges and health risks of early sexual debut, myths about sex and traditional views juxtaposed with modern views on sexual behaviour.”

“In surveying definitions in the literature, DuBois and Karcher (2005) noted three main characteristics of mentoring relationships.”

“…strive to develop positive, supportive plans for individual students at risk, school-based mentoring has received greater attention as a possible intervention and the use of programs for students at risk for failure has increased (Baker & Maguire, 2005; DuBois & Karcher, 2005; Keller, 2007).”