Research Relevant to Meeting the Physical,

Intellectual, Emotional, and Social Needs of

Students using Mentoring Programs.

PHYSICAL NEEDS
• Physical activities for young people are most effective when they are fun. They
can give students confidence and raise their self-esteem (U. S. Department of
Health and Human Services, 2000).

• The Centers for Disease Control believes adults should not use withholding
physical activity as a punishment (U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, 2000).

• An effective mentoring program will ask both adults and children what kind of
activities they’re interested in and pair them accordingly. Although these
relationships seemed to have the most positive outcomes, surveyed mentored
children did not seem to care what activities they participated in, but only cared
that they had a caring adult in their life (Tierney & Grossman, 1995).

INTELLECTUAL
• Adults can foster a growth mind-set in children through praising effort (rather than
intelligence or innate ability), sharing success stories that emphasize hard work
and love of learning (great mathematicians fell in love with math and developed
the skills rather than were born geniuses), and likening the brain to a learning
machine (teaching that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger with use)
(Dweck, 2007).

• From grades 5-8, many girls’ self-confidence and self-esteem “take a nosedive."
They should be complimented on their achievements, opinions and creative
strengths, rather than their looks (Burger & Sandy, n.d.).

• Students who are not reading at grade level will benefit greatly from one-on-one
tutoring (Hammond & Reimer, 2006).

• In one study, mentored youth felt more confident about their ability to complete
their school work. The confidence rates were highest among minority girls who
were mentored (Tierney & Grossman, 1995).

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EMOTIONAL NEEDS
• Care givers who set clear expectations, provide adequate supervision and
monitoring, and use consistent (although not severe) punishments when rules
are violated can significantly curtail delinquency and violent behavior among
youth. (National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, 2001).

• Mentors are most effective when they are not too judgmental or “preachy”
(Solutions for America, 2003).

• The most successful mentoring programs last at least one year, with mentors
and mentees meeting at least one hour per week (Solutions for America, 2003;
Tierney & Grossman, 1995).

SOCIAL NEEDS
• Mentored youth are less likely to (and mentored minority youth are far less likely
to) use drugs or alcohol, use violence, and skip school (Tierney & Grossman,
1995).

• In one study, mentored youth communicated better with their parents and lied to
them far less than youth in an unmentored control group (Tierney & Grossman,
1995).

• Mentoring programs should screen out mentors who cannot commit the time,
could be a safety risk, or may not form a positive relationship with their mentees
(Tierney & Grossman, 1995).

• Simply pairing and adult to a child in a mentoring program may not only be
ineffective, it may be harmful. Relationships that reinforce negative stereotypes
can do more harm than good (Tierney & Grossman).

• Mentoring programs with a solid infrastructure (monitoring, making sure

mentors/mentees meet, etc.) can positively affect the youth much more so than
mentoring programs that lack structure (Tierney & Grossman, 1995).

• Mentors who are screened, trained, and given support are most likely to stay with
their mentee long enough to positively impact the child (Solutions for America,
2003).

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REFERENCES

Burger, C. J., & Sandy, M. L. (n.d.). A guide to gender fair counseling for science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics. Retrieved August 21, 2007, from
http://www.vsgc.odu.edu/gfb.pdf

Dweck, C. (2007). The secret to raising smart kids. Scientific American Mind. December
2007. 37-43.

Hammond, C., & Reimer, M. (2006). Essential elements of quality after-school

programs. Clemson, SC: National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. Retrieved
November 9, 2007 at
http://www.dropoutprevention.org/pubs/pdfs/Essential_Elements_of_Quality_Afte
rSchool_Programs.pdf

National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center. (2001). Risk and Protective
Factors for Youth Violence Fact Sheet. Rockville, MD: Retrieved on line on
November 4, 2007 at http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/facts/risk.asp

Solutions for America. (2003). Healthy Families and Children: Youth Mentoring.
Retrieved February 11, 2008 from
http://www.solutionsforamerica.org/healthyfam/mentoring-programs.html

Tierney, J. P., & Grossman, J. B. (1995). Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big
Brothers/Big Sisters. [Electronic Version.] Retrieved February 10, 2008 from
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/111_publication.pdf

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2000). CDC's Guidelines for School
and Community Programs: Promoting Lifelong Physical Activity: Center for
Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved on line at
http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/physicalactivity/promoting_health/pdfs/ppar_a0
5.pdf

© 2008 EDSTAR, Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

All rights reserved.
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 © 2008 EDSTAR, Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
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