Everyday Acts of Resistance: Mexican, Undocumented Immigrant Children and Adolescents Navigating Oppression With Mentor Support.

Study aims were to examine oppression in education among Mexican immigrant youth with undocumented status and how mentors and other adults helped them resist oppression. Qualitative, narrative one-on-one interviews were conducted with 17 Mexican immigrant young adults with undocumented or DACA status in the U.S. Participants provided retrospective accounts from childhood through older adolescence. Analyses revealed critical junctures in which participants experienced oppression: (1) developmental milestones and school events, (2) college application process, (3) unforeseen life events, and (4) incidents of racial discrimination. Mentors and other adults helped participants to resist oppression through advocacy, social capital efforts, role modeling, and emotional, instrumental, and financial support. This study fills gaps in the literature on mentoring and immigrant youth who are undocumented.

Historically underrepresented college students and institutional natural mentors: An ecological analysis of the development of these relationships at predominantly White institutions.

Despite studies examining outcomes associated with having a natural mentoring relationship with an institutional agent in a higher education setting, few studies have investigated the formation of these relationships among historically underrepresented college students. Institutional agents refer to any instructor, staff, or administrator on the college campus. This cross-sectional study used an ecological approach to explore the factors associated with natural mentoring relationships between historically underrepresented college students and institutional agents. Participants were 521 college students (75% female, Mage = 20.27) across two predominantly White institutions. Multiple logistic regression demonstrated that older age, more positive help-seeking attitudes toward adults, stronger instructor relationships, having an off-campus mentor, and a higher sense of belonging on campus were associated with having an institutional natural mentor. Findings from this study contribute to the growing area of research on mentoring relationships of historically underrepresented college students. Implications are discussed.

Graduate student workload: Pandemic challenges and recommendations for accommodations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the lives of graduate student workers within university settings. At a large Midwestern private university, a Psychology Graduate Student Association (PsychGSA) identified that, in response to the pandemic, different levels of accommodations were being provided by faculty to graduate students. The PsychGSA conducted an evaluative survey that captured the experiences of 50 graduate students in the psychology department. The results highlight the inequitable challenges graduate students are currently facing. Recommendations to faculty to appropriately accommodate students during this unprecedented time, and beyond, are reported.

Act, Talk, Reflect, Then Act: The Role of Natural Mentors in The Critical Consciousness of Ethnically/Racially Diverse College Students.

The current mixed-method study examined the role of natural mentors in the cyclical process of college students' sociopolitical development, particularly their critical consciousness. College students (N = 145) completed surveys at two time points over a one-year period. Path analyses indicated that critical action and perceived inequalities were significantly associated with more social justice conversations with mentors and that having more social justice conversations with mentors was significantly associated with more critical action and perceived inequality. Further, mentoring conversations and sociopolitical efficacy helped to explain the positive role of perceived inequality and action on later attitudes around perceived inequalities and critical action. Qualitative one-on-one interviews of a subset of participants (n = 30) expanded findings from the quantitative data and revealed detailed information about how mentors supported youth critical consciousness. Specifically, mentors engaged in 1) dialogue and reflection, 2) information and resource sharing, 3) nonjudgmental, comfortable conversations, and 4) role modeling. Findings inform the iterative nature of critical consciousness and on how older adolescents leverage support from natural mentors in this process.

Helping me helps us: The role of natural mentors in the ethnic identity and academic outcomes of Latinx adolescents.

This research investigated the potential contributions of natural mentoring relationships and ethnic identity to the academic attitudes and performance of Latinx high school students. In a sample of 347 urban Latinx students in grades 9 and 10, analyses examined the presence and quality of mentoring relationships as well as ethnic identity exploration and affirmation as predictors of changes in grade point average and the perceived economic value of education. Analyses included tests for a hypothesized role of ethnic identity in mediating associations of mentoring measures with the academic outcomes. The presence of a mentoring relationship was not significantly related to ethnic identity or change in academic outcomes over time. However, mentoring relationship quality was associated with a more positive ethnic identity, and support was found for the hypothesis that ethnic identity mediates the association between the quality of mentoring relationships and change over time in the economic values toward education among Latinx adolescents. Study findings suggest the importance of supportive adults in the ethnic identity and academic outcomes of Latinx adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).