Building strong relationships in mentoring programs

The P/PV study identifies four essential program practices that contribute to the development of close and supportive relationships between a mentor and youth, which can be implemented by staff in school- and community-based programs:

1. Provide at least six hours of pre-match training and at least one post-match meeting a month. Mentors who receive more than six hours of pre-match training and orientation tend to spend more time with their mentees and report having the closest, most supportive relationships. Similarly, mentors who report having at least monthly contact with program staff once their matches had begun tend to develop closer and more supportive relationships than those with less frequent contact.
2. Match mentors with youth based on common interests. Mentors and youth who share similar interests develop close, supportive relationships. While many programs match mentors and youth based on gender or ethnicity (whether based on program philosophy, liability concerns, or parental preference), this can have the adverse effect of limiting the pool of male and minority mentors. If matching based on interest is not feasible, then train mentors so that they can identify and draw upon shared interests with a youth. Some ways to determine compatibility and similar interests include:
   
   
   • Ask youth and/or volunteers to complete personality inventories or interest surveys.
   • Provide mentors with interest surveys to complete with youth.
   • Allow groups of mentors and youth to meet, and then give them the opportunity to note first, second, and third choices for a match.
   • In school-based programs, learn more about the child's needs and interests from school staff who know the child well.
3. Encourage mentors to spend time engaging in social as well as academic activities. The extent to which youth and mentors engage in social activities (going to events together, having lunch, just talking, etc.) is the critical factor in developing positive relationships. Engaging in academic activities also has a positive effect on forming strong relationships, as does giving youth a voice in deciding activities, and then making these decisions together.
4. Focus more attention on training and supporting mentors who are working with older youth. Mentors matched with middle or high school students experienced less close and less supportive relationships, and this finding has implications for expanding program activities. According to the study, mentors paired with older youth tend to spend less time on academic activities (which is strongly related to supportiveness), may not be matched based on shared interests, may question their self-efficacy, and face more challenges.