An Examination of the Role of Mentees’ Social Skills and Relationship Quality in a School‐Based Mentoring Program

Abstract

Research on youth mentoring highlights the importance of the relationship quality between mentor and mentee; mentoring results in more positive outcomes when the mentee perceives the relationship as satisfying and trustworthy. Research on relationship quality shows that social skills are important for constructing new relationships. However, whereas improved social skills are often one of the main goals of youth mentoring, little is known about the importance of social skills for relationship quality in youth mentoring relations. In this study, we examined whether mentee's pre‐intervention social skills were related to mentor–mentee relationship quality as perceived by the mentee, and in turn, if relationship quality was associated with post‐intervention social skills. We additionally examined possible gender and age differences in these associations. Data were used from a two‐wave study that assessed relationship quality and social skills before and after one semester of mentoring of 390 secondary school students in a school‐based mentoring program. Results indicated that relationship quality was positively associated with post‐intervention social skills. However, only for young mentees pre‐intervention social skills were associated with better relationship quality. Moreover, only for young mentees, relationship quality mediated the association between pre‐ and post‐intervention social skills.

The role of service-learning experiences in promoting flourishing among college-student youth mentors

“…Similarly, research on youths' perception of the quality of the mentoring relationship affects their own outcomes (e.g. Eby et al, 2013;Lyons et al, 2019;Schenk et al, 2019). Considering that mentors are affected by the quality of the relationship and likely derive benefit from it, it is logical to examine whether the relationship may also affect students' flourishing.…”

Mentees and their mothers: The association between maternal relationship difficulties and targeted outcomes of mentoring

“…4.1 | Quality mentoring relationships, maternal relationship characteristics, and youth outcomes: Building a mediated model As maternal relationships characteristics have been found to affect the quality of the mentoring relationship (Williamson et al, 2019), and quality mentoring relationships are associated with behavioral and academic outcomes (Deutsch et al, 2016;Raposa et al, 2019;Seiving et al, 2016;Schenk et al, 2020), it follows that the association between maternal relationship characteristics and behavioral and academic outcomes could be mediated by the mentoring relationship quality (see Figure 1). This gap is notable, because mentoring programs may choose to adjust the types of training and support offered to mentors and mentees beginning a mentoring relationship depending on the strength and type of prior parental relationships.…”

“…This suggests that a mentor as an additional social support could be beneficial in protecting against the relational difficulties experienced by early adolescent girls. In fact, according to a prior school‐based mentoring program, girls reported that their mentors helped them improve their relational skills and development, such as increasing their ability to trust people and improving social skills (Deutsch et al, 2016; Schenk et al, 2020). Strong mentoring relationships have been found to be associated with improvement in youths' parental and teacher relationships as well as an improvement in social skills and behaviors (Chan et al, 2013; Seiving et al, 2016).…”

Youth Mentoring Relationships and College Social and Academic Functioning: The Role of Mentoring Relationship Quality, Duration, and Type

“…Within mentoring relationships, relationship quality stands out as an important factor with respect to both short‐term and long‐term outcomes for mentees (DuBois et al, 2002; Eby et al, 2013; Goldner & Mayseless, 2009; Schenk et al, 2020; Silke et al, 2019). Eby et al (2013) conducted a meta‐analysis of studies across three different mentoring contexts (mentoring with youth populations, in an academic setting, and within the workplace).…”