Edith C. Lawrence

Combining Mentoring With Structured Group Activities A Potential After-School Context for Fostering Relationships Between Girls and Mentors

The current study explores the potential of one-on-one mentoring facilitated within a structured group format for developing connection and sustaining mentor-mentee relationships with early adolescent girls. Results from a mixed-methods study using survey and observational data reveal that college student mentors and their seventh grade mentees report moderate-to-high satisfaction with the group experience, with no mean differences between groups. Yet there were significant differences between groups in the group members’ (mentees) satisfaction with their one-on-one mentoring relationships. Although all groups demonstrated high levels of some positive social processes related to connectedness (e.g., fun), groups in which mentees’ reported higher levels of satisfaction with their one-on-one relationships engaged in more higher level positive social processes (e.g., caretaking). Groups in which mentee’s reported lower satisfaction with their one-on-one relationships demonstrated more negative social processes (e.g., disengagement). Implications for after-school settings are discussed.

Parent-School Collaboration: The Utility of a Competence Lens:

Although the significant impact parent-school collaboration can have on student achievement, attendance, and behavior is well documented, parents and schools can sometimes slip into adversarial positions with one another. When this occurs, school psychologists are often called upon to intervene, if not mediate. This article presents a template for how school psychologists can bring out the best in both parents and teachers through the adoption of a competence lens.

“It Gave Me Ways to Solve Problems and Ways to Talk to People”: Outcomes From a Combined Group and One-on-One Mentoring Program for Early Adolescent Girls

Group mentoring is an increasingly popular intervention, but is still under-studied. This article reports findings from a qualitative study of the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), a combined group and one-on-one mentoring program for early adolescent girls. Protégés (n = 113) were interviewed post-program about changes they made as a result of the program and mechanisms of those changes. Girls reported making changes in four major domains as a result of YWLP: (a) Academics (e.g., study habits), (b) Relational Development (e.g., trusting people), (c) Self-Regulation (e.g., thinking before acting), and (d) Self-Understanding (e.g., being yourself). Relational development and self-understanding were the most frequently reported types of change. Protégés reported mentors as contributing to changes in academics more often than the mentoring group. They reported the mentoring group as the change mechanism more often than mentors for relational development. Protégés reported the mentors and mentoring groups about equally as the mechanisms of change for self-regulation and self-understanding. The findings support prior research on group mentoring and suggest that social and relational skills are a developmental domain in which group-based mentoring programs for early adolescent girls may be particularly effective at intervening.

Family Inventory of Resources and Stressors: Further Examination of the Psychometric Properties

To understand and fully incorporate low-income, multiproblem families into treatment, clinicians need a comprehensive yet efficient assessment tool that addresses both family resources and stressors and privileges the familys voice. The Family Inventory of Resources and Stressors (FIRST) is a broad-based family assessment measure developed to address this need. This study, using clinical, nonclinical, and at-risk populations, examined the factor structure and utility of the FIRST as well as the role of defensive answering. Results indicate that the FIRST has an adequate factor structure and that families find the measure useful and worthwhile. Implications for professionals working with low-income, multiproblem families are discussed.

Specialized After-School Programs: Five Case Studies

The field of youth development programming is brimming with creative, compassionate, and committed minds that strategize ways to meet youth challenges and engage with youth in exciting and relevant work. Some youth programmers have chosen to create specialized programs to address a societal or a particular youth population’s need. This chapter presents case studies of five such programs. Richmond, Virginia’s ROSMY, formerly, the Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth, aims to support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth aged 11–20. The Clubhouse: Where Technology Meets Imagination, provides a safe space for low-income youth to work with adult mentors to explore their own interests, develop skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology. The Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), based out of the University of Virginia, pairs college woman mentors with middle school girls deemed at-risk by school personnel to strengthen both groups’ leadership skills. Whatever It Takes (WIT) aims to fill a gap in social entrepreneurship education for high school youth. Aiming to support those who have not been sufficiently reached by shorter term programs or the judicial system, UTEC, of Lowell, Massachusetts, targets youth aged 16–24 who are out of school without a high school diploma, involved with a gang, or involved in criminal activity. These case studies point to the need to direct resources toward recruiting and supporting adults in building relationships with youth in addition to ensuring a range of youth programming to meet diverse youth needs.

Initial Characteristics and Mentoring Satisfaction of College Women Mentoring Youth: Implications for Training

Being a youth mentor is popular among college students, yet little is known about how their initial characteristics are related to mentoring satisfaction. Survey data from college women enrolled in a youth mentoring program (n = 158) and a comparison group (n = 136) were analyzed to determine how initial characteristics of youth mentors (a) differ from comparisons and (b) are associated with mentors’ satisfaction. Mentors reported higher autonomy, cultural sensitivity, and lower depression pre-participation than the comparison group, and their pre-participation GPA, cognitive empathy, and depression predicted post-participation mentoring satisfaction. Implications for mentor training are discussed.

College Women Mentoring Adolescent Girls: The Relationship between Mentor Peer Support and Mentee Outcomes

In this study, we examined the effectiveness of peer support for college women mentors who engaged in one-to-one and group mentoring with at-risk adolescent girls. Using data from 162 mentoring pairs, results suggested that mentor support positively predicted mentees’ self-reported improvement after a year of mentoring. An examination of mentees’ self-esteem outcomes revealed that mentor peer support was associated with higher outcomes only for those mentees who had higher pre-program scores; for those with below average pre-scores, mentor support was associated with lower self-esteem. Taken together, these results indicate that mentor support may serve as an important function beyond ongoing training, though its effectiveness may vary based on mentee characteristics. Implications are discussed.