The Benefits of Mentoring

Mentoring is a proven strategy for positive youth development. Youth are more likely to succeed in life when they have the additional support of a caring, consistent adult mentor.  Having a mentor can enhance a young person’s learning skills and help build resiliency and self-control. Youth with mentors are less likely to engage in risky behavior with drugs and alcohol, and are more likely to develop positive relationships with peers and adults, and to grow up to become productive members of society.

 

The Mentoring Effect
The Mentoring Effect is a study completed in 2014 by MENTOR,
The National Mentoring Partnership. It shares data from the first
national survey of young peoples’ opinions on formal and informal mentoring.
The survey showed that mentoring has a profound positive impact on youth,
especially at-risk* youth.

At-risk youth who had a mentor are…

• 130% more likely to hold a leadership
  position in a club, school council,
  sports team or other group
• 81% more likely to participate in sports
  or extracurricular activities
• 78% more likely to volunteer regularly
  in their communities
• 55% more likely to enroll in college

 

 

 The Role of Risk: Mentoring Experiences and Outcomes for Youth with Varying Risk Profiles
The Role of Risk is a study completed in 2013 that examined mentoring program relationships, experiences, and benefits for at-risk youth found that the strongest most consistent benefit for mentored youth was a reduction in depressive symptoms. The study also found…

• Greater acceptance by their peers
• More positive beliefs about their ability to succeed in school
• Better grades in school

 

Making a Difference
A study by Big Brother Big Sisters found mentoring can have a profound impact on youth. After just 18 months in a mentoring relationship youth were…

• 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs
• 27% less likely to begin using alcohol
• 52% less likely to skip school
• 37% less likely to skip a class
• 33% less likely to hit someone

 

*MENTOR defines an at-risk youth as a child who has encountered “barriers for achieving economic and social mobility.”