Supportive Others in the Lives of College Students and Their Relevance to Hope

Abstract

This paper considers the functions of supportive individuals in the lives of community college and 4-year college students and how such support can promote hope, defined as agency and pathways thinking. We surveyed 181 college students regarding their supportive relationships and found that parents were most likely to be nominated as a primary source of support and that frequently these parents were considered mentors by students. Highlighting research on developmental networks and the overlap in developmental tasks between adolescence and emerging adulthood, we consider these supportive relationships as opportunities for mentorship in which college students may receive the forms of support more akin to adolescent mentoring than professional mentoring. Students endorsed statements about being supported in values exploration, goal setting, and problem solving, and students who received more support, specifically problem-solving support, were more likely to be high in hope. Practical implications and future directions are discussed.Social support and positive relationships with others are essential factors to the well-being and development of young people (Chu, Saucier, & Hafner, 2010). Student retention research demonstrates that college students with peer and

The Functions and Longitudinal Outcomes of Adolescents’ Naturally Occurring Mentorships

“…By approaching data with these frameworks and allowing previously unidentified functions to emerge from the data, for instance we were able to make note of cognitive mentoring functions such as facilitating perspective taking and teaching practical life and academic skills. Similarly, we discovered that participants reported mentors promoting their spiritual or religious development, and a mentoring function has not been considered by past studies but is in line with other qualitative findings that youth consider spiritual support one function of a mentor (Fruiht, 2015). These previously unrecognized functions likely aided adolescents in perspective taking, metacognition, and the skills necessary for academic success.…”

Resilient English speaking Canadians: predictors from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth

“…This finding mirrors the assertion by Fruiht (2015) that mentorship modelling collaborative problem solving increases hope and the present observation on the importance of close relationships in the development of problem solving skills and resilience. Together these results make a strong case for further investigation of mentorship programs by both family and non-family members to increase resilient outcomes for populations considered at risk.…”

“…• Biological sex has long term implications for resilience in early adulthood (Chapple & Johnson, 2007;Masten, et al, 2004;Ribeaud & Eisner, 2010) • Early attachment has long term developmental implications for adaptive functioning in adulthood (Englund et al , 2011) • Punitive parenting practices have long term developmental implications regarding antisocial behavior (Villodas, et al, 2015) • SES has a significant impact on antisocial behaviors and coping in early adolescence (Garmezy et al , 1984;Kraus et al, 2011) • Close relationships with parents and friends in early adolescence are key to the development of problem solving skills (Casselman & Rosenbaum, 2014;Fergusson & Horwood, 2001 ;German et al, 2013;Masten & Tellegen, 2012;Murray et al, 2014;Newman, et al, 2007;Newton-Howes et al , 2015;Raby et al , 2015;Wang et al, 2013;Werner, 1996;1989;Zhang et al, 2015) • Mentorship though close relationships in early adolescence is crucial to the development of problem solving skills (Fruiht, 2015;Li & Yang, 2009;McKay, 2011) Given the observational nature of the present study and limited explained variance, the findings should be generalized with caution. However, it appears that resilience is a developmental construct that is relevant for many different populations including English speaking Canadians.…”

“…Rutter (1985) noted that Resilience involves the ability to use multiple problem solving approaches. The importance of problem solving skills was also emphasized by the Kauai Longitudinal Study (Werner, 1989). Fruiht (2015 links problem solving and hope as a reciprocal relationship; students who have trusted adults to act as mentors are exposed to collaborative problem solving, and hopeful students are more likely to seek out mentorship.…”

Queerly Unequal: LGBT+ Students and Mentoring in Higher Education

“…Mentors often serve as a link to the system of education for at-risk students, aiding students in navigating the unfamiliar terrain of higher education (Hinsdale 2011;Staples 2014). Mentors from an academic background are more successful than other mentoring relationships, especially for students of color and low-income students that do not have access to college educated/experienced mentors within their own family (Chang et al 2010;DuBois and Silverthorn 2005;Fruiht 2015;Fruiht and Wray-Lake 2013;Stanton-Salazar 2011). Mentoring relationships can evolve out of students' communities, thus often pairing the student with a mentor of a similar sphere of social and cultural capital, gained through early childhood socialization (Parcel and Hendrix 2014).…”