Abstract

Various factors in youth mentoring programs are associated with beneficial outcomes in youth. Extending mentoring research, this pilot study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Y's Brother/Sister program. The particular factors under study included the influence of the amount of contact between mentors and mentees, the self-reported quality of the relationship, and the types of activities engaged in on mentee's mental health. Ten mentees between the ages of 8 and 17 years of age (M = 11.5) were included in the study. Contrary to the hypothesis, the results show that more contact was associated with elevated levels of behavioral and emotional symptoms. However, an interaction between the amount of contact and relationship quality was found. The findings also indicate that discussions and, to a lesser degree, recreational/non-athletic activities predicted fewer symptoms than sports or educational/cultural activities. Implications for future research and mentoring programs are discussed.

Advisor

Sarah K. Sifers

Committee Member

Daniel D. Houlihan

Committee Member

Christine Black-Hughes

Date of Degree

2011

Language

english

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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