Abstract
Supportive relationships with nonparent adults are considered to be among the key developmental assets predicting positive youth outcomes. Indeed, researchers at Search Institute have identified “supportive relationship with three or more other adults,” “adult role models,” and “adults in community value youth” as essential to youths’ healthy development and well-being (Benson, Leffert, Scales, & Blythe, 1998; Scales & Leffert, 1999). Similarly, researchers working from within a risk-and-resilience framework have repeatedly called attention to the protective influence of supportive relationships with adults (Garmezy, 1985; Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Werner & Smith, 1982). In this chapter, we will describe the ways in which nonparental adults function as resources in the lives of adolescents. Within this context, we will review mentoring relationships and the settings in which they are most likely to emerge. We will also discuss strategies for maximizing the benefits of mentoring and look at the underlying processes that might affect developmental outcomes. As we will describe, mentoring can occur naturally or through formal assignments, and the characteristics of mentoring relationships are as varied as the youth and mentors who enter into them.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Allen, J. P., & Land, D. (1999). Attachment in adolescence. In J. Cassidy, P. R. Shaver, et al. (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications (pp. 319–335). New York: Guilford Press.
Baker, K., Pollack, M., & Kohn, I. (1995). Violence prevention through informal socialization: An evaluation of the South Baltimore Youth Center. Studies on Crime and Crime Prevention, 4, 61–85.
Beam, M. R., Chen, C., & Greenberger, E. (in press). The nature of adolescents’ relationships with their “very important” nonparental adults. American Journal of Community Psychology.
Beck, E. L. (1999). Prevention and intervention programming: Lessons from an after-school program. Urban Review, 31, 107–124.
Beier, S. R., Rosenfeld, W. D., Spitalny, K. C, Zanksy, S. M., & Bontemmpo, A. N. (2000). The potential role of an adult mentor in influencing high-risk behaviors in adolescents. Archives of Pediatric Medicine, 154, 327–331.
Benson, P. L., Leffert, N., Scales, P. C, & Blyth, D. (1998). Beyond the “village” rhetoric: Creating healthy communities for children and adolescents. Applied Developmental Science, 2, 138–159.
Blyth, D., Hill J., & Thiel, K. (1982). Early adolescents’ significant others: Grade and gender differences in perceived relationships with familial and nonfamilial adults and young people. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 11, 425–450.
Bryant, B. K. (1989). The need for support in relation to the need for autonomy. In D. Belle (Ed.), Children’s social networks and social supports (pp. 332–351). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Camino, L. A. (1994). Refugee adolescents and their changing identities. In L. A. Camino & R. M. Krulfeld (Eds.). Reconstructing lives, recapturing meaning: Refugee identity, gender, and culture change (pp. 29–56). Amsterdam: Gordon & Breach.
Chase-Lansdale, L., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Zamsky, E. Y. (1994). African-American intergenerational families in poverty: Quality of mothering and grandmothering. Chicago: Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy.
Coates, D. (1987). Gender differences in the structure and support characteristics of Black adolescents’ social networks. Sex Roles, 17, 667–687.
Collins, P H. (1987). The meaning of motherhood in black culture and black mother/daughter relationships. Sage: A Scholarly Journal of Black Women, 4, 3–10.
Darling, N., Hamilton, S. F., & Hames, K. (in press). Relationships outside the family: Unrelated adults. American Journal of Community Psychology.
Darling, N., Hamilton, S., & Niego, S. (1994). Adolescents’ relations with adults outside the family. In P. Montemayor, G. Adams, & T. Gullotta (Eds.), Personal relationships during adolescence. Advances in adolescent development: An annual book series, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Davidson, W. S., & Redner, R. (1988). The prevention of juvenile delinquency: Diversion from the juvenile justice system. In R. H. Price, E. L. Cowen, R. P. Lorion, & J. Ramos-McKay (Eds.), Fourteen ounces of prevention: Theory, research, and prevention (pp. 123–137). New York: Pergamon.
DuBois, D. L., Holloway B. E., Valentine, J. C., & Cooper, H. (in press). Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: A meta-analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology.
Eccles, J. S., Midgley, C., Wigneld, A., Buchanan, C. M., Reuman, D., Flanagan, C., & Maclver, D. (1993). Development during adolescence: The impact of stage-environment fit on young adolescents’ experiences in schools and in families. American Psychologist, 48, 90–101.
Erikson, E. (1993). Childhood and society. New York: W. W. Norton.
Feiring, C., & Coates, D. (1987). Social networks and gender differences in the life space of opportunity: Introduction. Sex Roles, 17, 611–620.
Feiring, C., & Lewis, M. (1989). The social networks of girls and boys from early through middle childhood. In D. Belle (Ed.), Children’s social networks and social supports (pp. 119–150). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Gamboni, M., & Arbreton, A. (1997). Safe havens: The contributions of youth organizations to healthy adolescent development. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.
Garmezy, N. (1985). Stress resistant children: The search for protective factors. In J. E. Stevenson (Ed), Recent research in developmental psychopathology (pp. 220–227). Oxford: Pergamon.
Grossman, J. B., & Rhodes, J. E. (in press). The test of time: Predictors and effects of duration in youth mentoring relationships. American Journal of Community Psychology.
Grossman, J. B., & Tierney, J. P. (1998). Does mentoring work? An impact study of the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters program. Evaluation Review, 22,403–426.
Hamilton, S., & Darling, N. (1989). Mentors in adolescents’ lives. In K. Hurrelmann (Ed.), The social world of adolescents: International perspectives (pp. 121–140). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Hamilton, S. F., & Hamilton, M. A. (1992). Mentoring programs: Promise and paradox. Phi Delta Kappan, 73,546–550.
Heath, S. B. (1994). The project of learning from the inner-city youth perspective. New Directions for Child Development, 63,25–34.
Hirsch, B. J., Roffman, J. G., Pagano, M. E., & Deutsch, N. L. (2000, March-April). The role of youth-staff relationships in Boys & Girls Clubs. Paper presented as part of a symposium, Natural and volunteer mentoring relationships of adolescents, at the Society for Research in Adolescence meetings, Chicago.
Hirsch, B. J., Roffman, J. G., Deutsch, N. L., Flynn, C. A., Loder, T. L., & Pagano, M. E. (2000). Inner-city youth development programs: Strengthening programs for adolescent girls. Journal of Early Adolescence, 20, 210–230.
Katz, S. R. (1999). Teaching in tensions: Latino immigrant youth, their teachers and the structures of schooling. Teachers College Record, 100, 809–840.
Klaw, E., & Rhodes, J. (1995). Mentor relationships and the career development of pregnant and parenting African-American teenagers. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 19, 551–562.
Larson, R. W. (2000). Toward a psychology of positive youth development. American Psychologist, 55, 170–183.
Lerner, R. M., Fisher, C. B., & Weinberg, R. A. (2000). Toward a science for and of the people: Promoting civil society through the application of developmental science. Child Development, 71, 11–20.
Liang, B., Tracy, A. J., Taylor, C. A., & Williams, L. M. (in press). Mentoring college-age women: A relational approach. American Journal of Community Psychology.
LoSciuto, L., Fox, M., Hilbert, S. M., & Sonkowsky, M. (1999). The mentoring factor: Evaluation of the Across Ages’ intergenerational approach to drug abuse prevention. Child and Youth Services, 20, 77–99.
LoSciuto, L., Rajala, A. K., Townsend, T. N., & Taylor, A. S. (1996). An outcome evaluation of Across Ages: An intergenerational mentoring approach to drug prevention. Journal of Adolescent Research, 11, 116–129.
Luthar, S. S. (1991). Vulnerability and resilience: A study of high-risk adolescents. Child Development, 62, 600–616.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50,11–15.
Masten, A. S. & Coatsworth, J. D. (1998). The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments: Lessons from research on successful children. American Psychologist, 53, 205–220.
McLaughlin, M., Irby, M., & Langman, J. (1994). Urban sanctuaries: Neighborhood organizations in the lives and futures of inner-city youth. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
McLoyd, V. (1990). The impact of economic hardship on black families and children: Psychological distress, parenting, and socioemotional development. Child Development, 61, 311–346.
McPartland, J. M. & Nettles, S. M. (1991). Using community adults as advocates or mentors for at-risk middle school students: A two-year evaluation of Project RAISE. American Journal of Education, 99,568–586.
Morrow, K. V., & Styles, M. B. (1995). Building relationships with youth in program settings: A study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York Simon & Schuster.
Rhodes, J. E. (2002). Older and wiser: Risks and rewards in youth mentoring. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Rhodes, J. E. (in press). Mentoring programs. In A. E. Kazdin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Rhodes, J. E., Contreras, J., & Manglesdorf, S. (1994). Natural mentor relationships among Latina adolescent mothers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 211–228.
Rhodes, J. E., & Davis, A. A. (1996). Supportive ties between nonparent adults and urban adolescent girls. In B. J. Leadbeater & N. Way (Eds.), Urban girls: Resisting stereotypes, creating identities (pp. 213–249). New York: New York University Press.
Rhodes, J. E., Ebert, L., & Fischer, K. (1992). Natural mentors: An overlooked resource in the social networks of young, African American mothers. American Journal of Community Psychology, 20, 445–461.
Rhodes, J. E., Gingiss, P. L., & Smith, P. B. (1994). Risk and protective factors for alcohol use among pregnant African American, Hispanic, and White adolescents: The influence of peers, sexual partners, family members, and mentors. Addictive Behaviors, 19, 555–564.
Rhodes, J. E., Grossman, J. B., & Resch, N. L. (2001). Agents of change: Pathways through which mentoring relationships influence adolescents’ academic adjustment. Child Development, 71, 1662–1671.
Rhodes, J. E., Haight, W. L., & Briggs, E. C. (1999). The influence of mentoring on the peer relationships of foster youth in relative and nonrelative care. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 9, 185–201.
Rhodes, J. E., Reddy, R., Grossman, J. B., & Lee, J. M. (2001). Volunteer mentoring relationships with minority youth: An analysis of same- versus cross-race matches. Manuscript under review.
Rhodes, J. E., Reddy, R., & Osborne, L. N. (2001). Protégé baseline characteristics as predictors of youth outcomes in mentoring programs. Manuscript in preparation.
Roeser, R., & Eccles, J. S. (1998). Adolescents’ perceptions of middle school: Relation to longitudinal changes in academic and psychological adjustment. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8,123–158.
Roffman, J. G., Suárez-Orozco, C., & Rhodes, J. E. (in press). Facilitating positive development in immigrant youth: The role of mentors and community organizations. In D. F. Perkins, L. M. Borden, J. G. Keith, & F. A. Villaruel (Eds.), Positive youth development: Creating a positive tomorrow. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Press.
Rogoff, B. (1990). Apprenticeship in thinking: Cognitive development in social context. New York: Oxford University Press.
Roth, J., Brooks-Gunn, J., Murray, L., & Foster, W. (1998). Promoting healthy adolescents: Synthesis of youth development program evaluations. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 8,423–459.
Scales, P. C., & Leffert, N. (1999). Developmental assets: A synthesis of the scientific research on adolescent development. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute.
Sipe, C. L. (1998). Mentoring adolescents: What have we learned? In J. B. Grossman (Ed.), Contemporary issues in mentoring (pp. 11–23). Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.
Sipe, C. L., & Roder, A. E. (1999). Mentoring school-age children: A classification of programs. Philadelphia: Public/Private Ventures.
Taylor, R., Casten, R., & Flickinger, S. (1993). Influence of kinship social support on the parenting experiences and psychosocial adjustment of African-American adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 29, 382–388.
Villaruel, F. A., & Lerner, R. M. (1994). Promoting community-based programs for socialization and learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Werner, E. E., & Smith, R. S. (1982). Vulnerable but invincible: A study of resilient children. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Wilson, W. J. The truly disadvantaged: The inner city, the underclass, and public policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Zimmerman, M. A., Bingenheimer, J. B., & Notaro, P. C. (in press). Natural mentors and adolescent resiliency: A study with urban youth. American Journal of Community Psychology.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rhodes, J.E., Roffman, J.G. (2003). Nonparental Adults as Asset Builders in the Lives of Youth. In: Lerner, R.M., Benson, P.L. (eds) Developmental Assets and Asset-Building Communities. The Search Institute Series on Developmentally Attentive Community and Society, vol 1. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0091-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0091-9_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4919-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-0091-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive