Zand Debra H, Thomson Nicole, Cervantes Richard, Espiritu Rachele, Klagholz Donna, LaBlanc Laura, Taylor Andrea
Department of Psychiatry, Missouri Institute of Mental Health, University of Missouri-Columbia, 5400 Arsenal, Saint Louis, MO 63139, USA.
J Adolesc. 2009 Feb;32(1):1-17. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.12.006. Epub 2008 Feb 7.
Mentoring programs hold great promise for fostering competency in disadvantaged youth. Although considerable theoretical work has been conducted to explain the role of mentoring relationships in promoting positive youth outcomes, very little empirical research has directly investigated this alliance. The present study developed and validated a tool to assess mentees' perceptions of their relationships with their mentors and to investigate the relationship between this alliance and youth competency. Based on pilot data from four cross-national mentoring programs (N=276), a 10-item, two-factor Mentor-Youth Alliance Scale (MYAS) was created. Subsequent confirmatory factor analyses conducted on national evaluation data from a multi-site study of mentoring programs (N=219), generated a 10-item, one-factor solution. The one-factor MYAS significantly predicted youths' scores in four competency domains: Family Bonding, Relationships with Adults, School Bonding, and Life Skills, at 8-months post-intake. Higher competency youth were more likely to be female, younger on average, and have a higher quality of relationships with their mentors than were lower competency youth. Implications for the development of the mentor-protégé relationship are discussed.
指导计划在培养弱势青年的能力方面具有很大的潜力。尽管已经开展了大量的理论工作来解释指导关系在促进青年积极成果方面的作用，但很少有实证研究直接调查这种联盟关系。本研究开发并验证了一种工具，用于评估受指导者对其与导师关系的看法，并调查这种联盟关系与青年能力之间的关系。基于来自四个跨国指导计划的试点数据（N = 276），创建了一个包含10个项目、两个因子的指导者-青年联盟量表（MYAS）。随后，对一项指导计划多地点研究的全国评估数据（N = 219）进行的验证性因子分析得出了一个包含10个项目、单因子的结果。单因子MYAS在入学8个月后显著预测了青年在四个能力领域的得分：家庭关系、与成年人的关系、学校关系和生活技能。与能力较低的青年相比，能力较高的青年更有可能是女性，平均年龄更小，并且与导师的关系质量更高。文中还讨论了对师徒关系发展的启示。
