"It's going to help me in life": Forms, sources, and functions of social support for youth in natural mentoring relationships.

Social support is associated with positive physical and psychological health outcomes for youth. We took a qualitative approach to examine the sources, forms, and functions of social support youth receive from natural mentoring relationships in their lives. Based on in-depth interviews with 40 adolescents participating in a study of youth-adult relationships and natural mentoring processes, we found that (1) different types of adults had the capacity to provide different types of support and were likely to provide overlapping supports; (2) emotional, informational, and instrumental support qualitatively differed depending on the adult's role (e.g., teacher), while companionship and validation were consistent across adults; and (3) youth were able to identify benefits attached to the social support received from adults. Our findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of aspects and characteristics of effective youth-adult mentoring processes and call for fuller assessments of social support in youths' lives so we may better meet their developmental needs.

The Impact of Comprehensive Community Initiatives on Population-Level Child, Youth, and Family Outcomes: A Systematic Review.

Comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs) represent a popular method for creating systemic change, yet there is a dearth of evidence on their effectiveness (Zaff, Pufall Jones, Donlan, Lin, & Anderson, 2016). This article presents a systematic review of the evidence on the population-level impact of CCIs, focusing specifically on documented effects from studies using an experimental or quasi-experimental design. Of 1,947 articles identified through a database and hand search, 25 articles examining six different CCIs-most of which employed prevention science frameworks-met the review inclusion criteria. The results of this review show that CCIs can strengthen protective factors and reduce risk factors, delay initiation of and reduce substance use, and reduce the likelihood of, and delay engagement in, violent and/or delinquent behaviors. Impacts have been documented as soon as one year after initial intervention, and as early as 7th grade, with effects sustained as long as seven years post-intervention, and as late as a year post-high school. However, relative to the prevalence of CCIs as a practical intervention, the evidence base is small, potentially dated, and focused on a narrow set of outcomes and populations. Recommendations for interpreting the evidence base are discussed, including methodological limitations and implications for future work.

Revealing Both Sides of the Story: A Comparative Analysis of Mentors and Protégés Relational Perspectives.

Mentoring continues to be a popular intervention for promoting positive youth development. However, the underlying mechanisms associated with sustainable and successful relationships remain largely unknown. Our study aimed to expand on previous literature by examining characteristics that have previously been linked to mentoring outcomes (e.g., authenticity, empathy), from a process-focused lens. We utilized post program satisfaction scores and interviews to examine the presence of each characteristic in a large sample of dyads (n = 144) as well as dyads' levels of agreement or disagreement about aspects of the relationships. We found that high satisfaction dyads demonstrated greater congruity and detail in their descriptions of their relationships, whereas low satisfaction dyads were highly divergent and inconsistent in their descriptions. In addition, misattunement, a negative relational aspect, was the most powerful distinguisher between high and low satisfaction dyads, which provides support for mentors receiving attunement training in order to reduce instances of misattunement. Findings from this study highlight the importance of examining and assessing mentoring relationships from both the mentor and protégé perspectives, as a single perspective may not present a full picture of the relationship.

Family Functioning and High Risk Adolescents' Aggressive Behavior: Examining Effects by Ethnicity.

The relationship between family functioning and adolescents' physical aggression has been well established, but whether these relationships might differ by ethnicity has received less attention. Ethnic variations may be important for targeting prevention programs to specific youth and families. This study examined the longitudinal relationship between family cohesion, parental monitoring, and physical aggression using data from the Multisite Violence Prevention Project sample of high-risk youth (elevated aggression). Participants were 1,232 high-risk middle school students (65% male; 70% African American; 15% Hispanic). Meaningful demographic variations were identified. After controlling for intervention condition and study site, family cohesion was significantly negatively related to physical aggression, more so for Hispanic youth. Parental monitoring was negatively associated with physical aggression for African American youth only. Our findings point to the importance of developing culturally sensitive family interventions to prevent physical aggression in middle school.