Why Youth Mentoring Matters

​Youth mentoring is a process where an older person serves as a guide to help make the transition to adulthood easier.¹ Mentors can help young people in their education, work, and daily life, depending on where they most need help. They ensure that, no matter what happens, they're not alone.²

What's "At Risk?"

In this context, you may hear terms like "at-risk youth" and "at-risk students" going around. To clarify, these terms largely mean the same thing. Young people are considered "at-risk" if they are at risk of failing academically and are less likely to become independent adults. Here are a few traits that often appear in at-risk youth:⁴

• Truancy.
• Emotional/behavioral problems.
• Poor grades.
• Lack of interest in school.
• Disengagement from school environment.

Types of Mentoring

Mentorship can help youth in a handful of areas. Here are some examples:

Education

As mentioned above, some young people become disengaged from school and are at risk of failing out. Some students face what is called an opportunity gap; that is, a situation where the student doesn't have access to great educational resources. Because of this, educational mentoring may be the first type that comes to mind.

Students who have mentors enjoy many benefits to their school experience. For example, they are 52% less likely to skip a day, and are 37% less likely to cut class. Mentorship also helps build better attitudes in youth, which helps them do better as students. Finally, students who face an opportunity gap are 55% likely to move on to college if they have a mentor.²

Career

One of the major functions of school is to prepare students for adult life. If a student you're working with is struggling in school, it can be have long-term effects. Many at-risk youth do not have a very bright future in mind, and are lost as to where their life is going. Because of this, career mentoring may come in handy. Career mentors help with workplace skills and preparing youth for their future.

As a career mentor, you can help youth in a variety of ways such as:²

• Direction – Mentorship helps students set goals for where they want to be in life. It also helps them take steps to realize these goals.
• Networking – Through mentorship, students gain a way to network with people in their chosen industry, and find internships and jobs. As a mentor, you can tap into your own contacts and give the mentee a way of connecting with them.
• Resources – As a mentor, you can introduce students to useful resources and career organizations.
• Training – Mentorship trains students' skills in job seeking, interviewing, and other job-related areas.

Overall, career mentoring can give students a wider scope on life, and it helps them develop major goals they can use to motivate themselves.

Life as a Whole

Sometimes, youth need a more holistic approach to get "back on track." Or maybe the person is just facing some issues in their life that need to be addressed – issues that aren't fully specific to the above two areas. These youth may just need a positive adult presence, someone they can lean on. In this case, life mentoring can prove helpful. According to the National Mentoring Partnership, you can "offer advice, share life their experiences [sic], and help a young person navigate challenges."²

Life mentoring has several positive effects on youth. Here are a few examples:²

• It helps prevent harmful habits. Youth with a mentor are 46% less likely to start using illegal drugs and 27% less likely to start drinking than other people their age.
• It has social benefits. If they have a mentor, students facing an opportunity gap are 81% more likely to participate regularly in sports or other extracurricular activities.
• It's good for mental health. Mentoring has been shown to reduce the symptoms of depression.
• It has interpersonal benefits. Mentoring promotes positive attitudes toward other people in society. It helps reduce antisocial (delinquent) behavior. Also, mentored youth tend to have better relationships with their parents, and communicate better with them.
• Develops leadership – Youth who had a mentor are 130% more likely to hold leadership positions.
• Inspirational – Mentorship inspires youth to want to help others as well. 90% of youth who had a mentor are interested in becoming a mentor themselves.

Next Steps

Now that you know more about mentoring, start looking for programs! You can search a database of mentorship programs in the U.S. on the National Mentoring Partnership website. Locate programs you're interested in and make a list for yourself to contact.

Sources

¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_mentoring

³http://schottfoundation.org/

⁴https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-risk_students