Research shows that a non-family adult focussed on the wellbeing of a teenager can safely introduce the them to the wider world and how it works, helping the teen transition confidently into a young adult.
In taking part in this partnership, the teenager and their mentor engage in discussions and experiences focussed on the teen’s agency, skills and capacity for social and academic success (Watson, Sealey-Ruiz & Jackson 2016); a structured, but not too structured practice that is youth-driven. I really enjoy the process of getting to know my mentees – each is different and interesting.
Based on this knowledge, I work alongside my mentees to discover or create opportunities for the mentee’s personal growth. This is primarily done through setting and working towards achieving the teen’s own goals. It could be that this is the first time a non-family adult is interested in the teenager’s long-term wellbeing, and, as the research shows and I can personally attest to, this can have a range of positive benefits for the teen. But only if if the mentorship meets a few key criteria.
Research shows that mentor-mentee matches work best when:
- shared interests are considered in the matching stage
(Ben-Eliyahu 2022) - time is given for the partnership to develop meaningfully
(Schwartz, Lowe & Rhodes 2012) - long-term, values-based goals are self-initiated and actioned by the mentee
(Liang et al. 2016) - the mentor provides guidance and advice that consider the mentee’s relationships and their contexts
(Karcher 2014) - the mentor has social capital – tertiary education, extensive life and work experience, good health – tick, tick, tick and tick
(Chang et al. 2010)
As teens prepare for adulthood, mentors can help teens navigate this transition into young adults with confidence. One study shows mentors can help teens act authentically in the adult social world (Chang et al. 2010), and another states that successful mentors show teens how to engage with the wider world and with how they view themselves (Liang et al. 2016) in a positive way. Mentors do this by non-judgmentally listening to the mentee as they share things they may fear to share with their parents and giving a teen experience-based advice, which their friends, by the very nature of their age, cannot (Sterrett et al. 2011).
Perhaps most importantly, through mentoring, young people have more capability to ask for and accept help, improving their ability to find support and resources to improve their situation (‘Information for Parents’ n.d.), key life skills held by successful adults.
Resulting from mentor-mentee partnerships are range of possible positive outcomes, both “now” in the short-term and into the “future”.
Please read my next blog to find out more about the awesome long-term impacts of adult-teen mentorships.
To discuss how my approach could assist your teen, contact me and please complete my questionnaire.
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References
Ben-Eliyahu, A. 2022, ‘On Methods: What’s a meta-analysis, anyways?’, The Chronicle of Evidence-Based Mentoring, viewed 16 January 2023, <https://www.evidencebasedmentoring.org/on-methods-whats-a-meta-analysis-anyways/>.
Chang, E.S., Greenberger, E., Chen, C., Heckhausen, J. & Farruggia, S.P. 2010, ‘Nonparental Adults as Social Resources in the Transition to Adulthood: NONPARENTAL ADULTS AS SOCIAL RESOURCES’, Journal of Research on Adolescence, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1065–82.
Karcher, M.J. 2014, ‘Cross-Age Peer Mentoring’, Handbook of Youth Mentoring, SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks California 91320 United States, pp. 233–58, viewed 13 January 2023, <https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/hdbk_youthmentor2ed/n16.xml>.
Liang, B., Lund, T.J., Mousseau, A.M.D. & Spencer, R. 2016, ‘The Mediating Role of Engagement in Mentoring Relationships and Self-esteem among Affluent Adolescent Girls’:, Psychology in the Schools, vol. 53, no. 8, pp. 848–60.
Schwartz, S.E.O., Lowe, S.R. & Rhodes, J.E. 2012, ‘Mentoring Relationships and Adolescent Self-Esteem’, The prevention researcher, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 17–20.
Sterrett, E.M., Jones, D.J., McKee, L.G. & Kincaid, C. 2011, ‘Supportive Non-Parental Adults and Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning: Using Social Support as a Theoretical Framework’, American journal of community psychology, vol. 48, no. 0, pp. 284–95.
Watson, W., Sealey-Ruiz, Y. & Jackson, I. 2016, ‘Daring to care: the role of culturally relevant care in mentoring Black and Latino male high school students’, Race Ethnicity and Education, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 980–1002.