Investigating the Relationship of Mentor Social Emotional Competence, Mentor Self-Efficacy, and Similar Ethnic Background on the Strength/Quality of the Mentor and Mentee Relationship

Abstract

Youth who are exposed to more adversities in life and at-risk for engaging in delinquent behaviors have been found to be less likely to have a caring adult in their life. Mentoring is among one of the most evidence-based preventative interventions/supports applied to at-risk youth in order to promote resilience/protective factors. Youth mentoring is a pairing of a child or adolescent with an adult who offers encouragement, guidance, and support. Mentors have a variety of individual characteristics and qualities that they bring to the mentor-mentee relationship. Some characteristics that lead to effective mentoring are wisdom/knowledge, a strong emotional bond between the mentor and mentee, and a mentor who offers guidance and/or instruction. Little is known about the effect mentors’ own social-emotional competence has on the relationship with at-risk youth. The present study aimed to identify the relationship of mentors’ social emotional competence, mentors’ self-efficacy, and match of mentor-mentee ethnic background on the quality of the mentor and mentee relationship. Sixty-six mentors were recruited from various mentor organizations from three different cities in the state of Texas and online forums. A statistically significant positive relationship was found between the mentors’ self-efficacy and strength/quality of mentor-mentee relationship. There was not a significant relationship between mentors’ social emotional competence and mentor-mentee strength/quality of relationship. Mentor-mentee strength/quality of relationship was reliably predicted by mentor’s self-efficacy. Ethnic match backgrounds were found to not have a significant effect on the mentor-mentee strength/quality of the relationship. Although the moderating effect of mentor self-efficacy and mentor social emotional competence increases the mentor’s strength/quality of relationship, it only explained .6% increase of the variance therefore was not statistically significant. A major limitation to this study was the small sample size. The nonsignificant results particularly with mentor-mentee ethnic match could have been due to the small sample size. These findings highlight the importance of research identifying mentor qualities that strengthen the mentor-mentee relationship. In addition, results of this study have valuable implications for the training of future mentors.