Can mentoring promote self-esteem and school connectedness? An evaluation of the Mentor-UP project

Research in the United States has shown that youth mentoring is a promising strategy for increasing self-esteem and school connectedness in at-risk youth. There has been little confirmation of those findings internationally. The current study evaluates the impact of mentoring by trained university s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Intervención psicosocial 2020, Vol.29 (1), p.1-8
Main Author: Marino, Claudia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
At risk populations
Autoestima
Child development
College students
Conexión escolar
Connectedness
Immigrants
italy
Mentoring
Mentoring programs
Mentoría juvenil
Mentors
Meta-analysis
Peers
prevention programs
Programas de prevención
Psychology
Psychology, Social
school connectedness
Self esteem
Youth
youth mentoring
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Research in the United States has shown that youth mentoring is a promising strategy for increasing self-esteem and school connectedness in at-risk youth. There has been little confirmation of those findings internationally. The current study evaluates the impact of mentoring by trained university students on childrens self-esteem and school connectedness compared to schoolmates not involved in the program. Mentor-UP is a school- and community-based weekly mentoring program implemented in northern Italy over a period of seven months. Participants (209 students - 34 in the experimental group and 175 in the comparison group - aged between 11 and 13, 56% male, 27% immigrants) reported their levels of self- esteem and school connectedness at the beginning and at the end of the program. Results showed a significant increase in mentees self-esteem compared to the control group, while the difference in school-connectedness was nonsignificant. The findings support the effectiveness of Mentor-UP in nurturing youths self-esteem.
ISSN:1132-0559
2173-4712
1132-0559
2173-4712
DOI:10.5093/PI2019A13