Mentoring Relationships and Adolescent Self-Esteem.

Abstract

It is estimated that three million youth in the United States are in formal mentoring relationships in which volunteers are matched with children and adolescents, and this number continues to rise (MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, 2006). Many more youth have meaningful, natural mentoring relationships with extended family members, teachers, neighbors, coaches, and other caring non-parental adults. Anecdotal accounts of mentoring relationships and their life-transforming effects on young people abound in the media, including stories of caring adults helping young people to discover their strengths and, in doing so, enhance their feelings of self-esteem and confidence. But how does the research bear on this topic? Below, we review the highlights of this research, first discussing different approaches to youth mentoring and then summarizing the research on (1) the effects of mentoring relationships on self-esteem, (2) factors that predict variation in relationship effectiveness, and (3) the processes through which these relationships exert such effects.