The Relationship Between Demographic Similarity in Youth Mentoring Dyads and College Student Academic and Emotional Functioning

Mentoring is a popular form of intervention for at-risk youth. Evidence suggests that youth paired with a supportive adult or youth who develop natural mentoring relationships experience reductions in a broad array of negative adjustment outcomes (DuBois et al., 2011; DuBois & Silverthorn, 2005). Subsequent to an increased use of mentoring as an intervention, efforts have been made to investigate factors of the mentoring relationship that may increase mentoring efficacy. Mentoring programs often match youth with mentors of the same race or gender, but the research linking these matching practices to improved outcomes is limited and mixed. Extant literature also fails to assess whether age difference between mentor and mentee, and degree of demographic similarity (i.e. matching on both race and gender versus matching on gender alone) in mentoring dyads influences the potential benefit of a mentoring relationship. The present study seeks to examine the extent to which mentor and youth mentee demographically similarity is associated with youth academic and emotional outcomes. Analyses will be based on a sample of 422 undergraduate students who participated in a survey study examining mentoring relationships and academic, behavioral, and psychological outcomes and endorsed having had a mentoring relationship. Academic and emotional outcomes were assessed via self-report measures of college self-efficacy, academic motivation, anxiety, emotion regulation, perceived stress, and self-esteem.