“I really wanted her to have a Big Sister”: Caregiver perspectives on mentoring for early adolescent girls

Abstract

Formal youth mentoring programs tend to focus on the mentor-mentee dyad as the primary relationship cultivated and supported. The interests and preferences of the parent or caregiver in the mentoring relationship may receive little attention. In this study, semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with primary caregivers (N=20) of early adolescent girls participating in a Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based mentoring program to explore reasons why they wanted mentors for their daughters. Thematic analysis revealed that caregivers expected mentors to support their daughters as trusted companions, confidants, and conduits to opportunities and services. In addition, caregivers noted ways in which mentoring offered them respite and reinforced their parenting. The findings highlight the potential value of assessing caregiver perspectives and priorities so that program staff and mentors can partner more effectively with youth and families for successful mentoring experiences.

Spaces of possibilities: a theoretical analysis of mentoring from a regulatory perspective

“…Mentoring is a multi-agent phenomenon. Conflicts can arise between the deontic M-spaces of the central participants (i.e., mentor and mentee) and additional stakeholders (e.g., friends and superiors) involved in mentoring 36,74,75,[132][133][134] For this reason, clearly defined and communicated intentions and goals of mentoring programs have long been considered an important success factor. 135…”

Introduksjon

“…Erfaringene fra foreldreintervjuer i det svenske Näktergalen viser at foreldrenes delaktighet anses som en nøkkelfaktor for å lykkes i mentorvirksomheten, da de ønsker å komme med innspill til de ukentlige treffene og vaere en støtte for mentoren (Lagergren, 2020;Lönroth, 2007). Amerikanske studier viser også at foreldre på ulike måter kan vaere sentrale premissleverandører i mentorvirksomheten og en sentral faktor for hvordan mentorordningen fungerer (Basualdo-Delmonico & Spencer, 2016;DuBois, Holloway, Valentine & Cooper, 2002;Keller et al, 2018).…”

Turning into a “Godparent”: How adult volunteers negotiate their personal life to become a mentor for “Unaccompanied Refugee Minors”

“…Other studies focused on how these "others" experience and perceive mentoring, e.g. by understanding how parents or caregivers view their children [16] or studying the view of program staff [17][18][19] . This development of considering mentoring relationships in a broader perspective has often been described as up to date.…”

“…"... and I myself had the impression that it helped her a great deal (...) uh, when it came to integration, when it came to schooling, it really, yes, was certainly extremely helpful." (Koller, [14][15][16][17] Another story links migration to the context of a collective historical experience connected with the interviewee's own biography: "Sure, the thing about unaccompanied refugee minors is definitely an issue I know and I come from a town where we, I grew up with it, that is, we had a reception center (...) or like a like a center that's::: always been a trad... like even wh, when Germany was still divided, then all the, all the people from the Eastern bloc already came to us via Hungary and so that was, migration was already an issue for us." (Novak, p. 3, 46-52)…”