Dyadic connections in the context of group mentoring: A social network approach.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to examine how relational ties among all participants in a group mentoring program related to connections within assigned mentor-mentee dyads. METHODS: College student female mentors (n = 54) and middle school-aged female mentees ( n = 65) in eight mentoring groups completed social network surveys on multiple occasions, rating all groupmates on connection and effort to reach out. RESULTS: Hierarchical linear models (participants nested in groups) revealed mentors who were rated as being highly connected to multiple mentees had stronger connections within their dyad. For mentees, high ratings on efforts to reach out to others related to the stronger dyadic connection. Mentees reported lower dyadic connection in groups with more segregation by role. CONCLUSION: Results suggest group dynamics matter for one-on-one mentoring relationships, but how they matter differs by role. Implications for the use of social network analysis to assess complex settings are discussed.

Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School-based Mentoring.

School-based mentoring programs are popular prevention programs thought to influence youth development; but rigorous evaluations indicate that these programs often have small effects on youth outcomes. Researchers suggest that these findings may be explained by (a) mentors and mentees failing to develop a close relationship and (b) mentors not setting goals or focusing on specific skills necessary improve outcomes. We assessed these explanations using data from approximately 1360 mentor and mentee pairs collected through a national study of school-based mentoring (called, "The Student Mentoring Program"). Specifically, we tested the influence of mentee-reported relationship quality and mentor-reported use of goal-setting and feedback-oriented activities on academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes. Results suggested that youth reported relationship quality was associated with small to medium effects on outcomes. Moreover, goal-setting and feedback-oriented activities were associated with moderate to large effects on outcomes. We also found significant interactions between relationship quality and goal-setting and feedback-oriented activities on youth outcomes. We conclude that there appears to be a "sweet-spot" wherein youth outcomes are maximized. The results of this study suggest a need for school-based mentoring programs to monitor and support mentors in developing a close relationship while also providing opportunities to set goals and receive feedback.