Expanding employment skills and social networks among teen mothers: Case study of a mentor program

Abstract

The use of mentors in social services programs has become an increasingly common intervention, and typically aims to increase education and job skills among at-risk youth. Because of a lack of social services research, most of what is known about the effects of mentoring relationships has been generalized from studies conducted in corporate settings. This article examines assumptions about the potential effects of mentor programs, and presents the results of an exploratory case study of outcomes of low-income teen mothers who were paired with a professionally employed mentor. Drawing on the concepts of social network theory, it is hypothesized that mentors can link at-risk youth with information and resources not readily available from their extant personal networks.

Informal mentoring and young adult employment

“…Some mentors offer guidance to young people that may help them set personal goals and gain direction in their lives. Prior research has noted the importance of connections to adult mentors in the community who can ease the transition to employment by offering guidance, advice, and encouragement (Jarrett, Sullivan, and Watkins, 2005;Zippay, 1995). Others give emotional support which enables them to manage stress in the workplace.…”

Stages of Mentoring: An Analysis of an Intervention for Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents

“…Our literature search identified eight empirical studies regarding mentoring pregnant/parenting adolescents; five implemented formal mentoring relationships (Blinn-Pike et al 1998;Quint 1991;Rhodes 1993;Zippay 1995), while four reported on natural or informal mentoring relationships (Rhodes et al 1994a;Rhodes et al 1992;Rhodes et al 1994b;Klaw and Rhodes 1995). Most of these interventions targeted young women ranging in age from 11 to 24, typically from ethnic/racial minority groups, including African-Americans and Latinas.…”

“…Most of these interventions targeted young women ranging in age from 11 to 24, typically from ethnic/racial minority groups, including African-Americans and Latinas. Formal mentoring relationships ranged from 6 months (Quint 1991) to over 2 years (Zippay 1995). These relationships often emphasized the roles of mentor, role model, and friend (Quint 1991) as well as the social nature of the relationship (Zippay 1995) and instrumental support, including transportation, problem-solving, and securing resources (Blinn-Pike et al 1998).…”

Mentoring special youth populations

“…Typical problems include difficulties in convening matched control groups (e.g., finding equivalent samples), and many control group participants also continue to receive services from multiple sources (McDonald et al, 2005). Zippay (1995) conducted an exploratory study of formal mentoring grounded in social support theory by pairing 20 adolescent mothers with professionally employed mentors to increase the adolescents' educational and job skills. The results suggested that the mentors linked the young mothers with resources and information not readily available in their existing support networks.…”