Initial Findings
Published Articles
Karcher, M. J. (2008). Prevention Science.
Abstract: The effect of providing youth school-based mentoring (SBM), in addition to other school-based support services, was examined with a sample of 516 predominately Latino students across 19 schools. Participants in a multi-component, school-based intervention program run by a youth development agency were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) supportive services alone or (2) supportive services plus SBM. Compared to community-based mentoring, the duration of the SBM was brief (averaging eight meetings), partly because the agency experienced barriers to retaining mentors. Intent-to-treat (ITT) main effects of SBM were tested using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) and revealed small, positive main effects of mentoring on self-reported connectedness to peers, self-esteem (global and present-oriented), and social support from friends, but not on several other measures, including grades and social skills. Three-way cross-level interactions of sex and school level (elementary, middle, and high school) revealed that elementary school boys and high school girls benefited the most from mentoring. Among elementary school boys, those in the mentoring condition reported higher social skills (empathy and cooperation), hopefulness, and connectedness both to school and to culturally different peers. Among high school girls, those mentored reported greater connectedness to culturally different peers, self-esteem, and support from friends. Findings suggest no or iatrogenic effects of mentoring for older boys and younger girls. Therefore, practitioners coordinating multi-component programs that include SBM would be wise to provide mentors to the youth most likely to benefit from SBM and bolster program practices that help to support and retain mentors.
Mentoring programs: A framework to inform program development, research, and evaluation. [pdf]
Karcher, M. J., Kuperminc, G., Portwood, S., Sipe, C., & Taylor, A. (2006). Journal of Community Psychology, 34, 709-725.
Abstract: As mentoring programs have proliferated, considerable variation in approaches to programmatic mentoring has emerged. Concomitant confusion exists about the context, structure, and goals that constitute mentoring as a distinct intervention. This article presents a brief summary of what is currently known about different approaches to mentoring and proposes a framework that identifies both the common and the specific elements among different youth mentoring approaches. Rather than focusing solely on the participants and contexts of mentoring programs, such as peer- or school-based mentoring, as the key elements that differentiate programs, the authors suggest that more fruitful program development and research will result from a closer examination of the context, structure, and goals of programs, as well as of three critical program elements: content, infrastructure, and dosage. To understand better how and under what conditions mentoring works, program developers and researchers should test hypotheses regarding the influences of these program elements based on theory-driven expectations about the interrelationships among proximal, enabling, and distal outcomes of mentoring programs.
Conference Presentations
Karcher, M, J. (January 17, 2008). 2008 Maryland Mentoring Conference, Maryland Mentoring Partnership. Baltimore, MD: Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel.
“The problem of Catch and Release” and “50 ways to leave your mentee.” [pdf]
Karcher, M, J. (January 17, 2008). Luncheon Keynote Talk. 2008 Maryland Mentoring Conference, Maryland Mentoring Partnership. Baltimore, MD: Sheraton Baltimore City Center Hotel.
Karcher, M. J., Benne, K., Gil-Hernandez, Allen, C., D., Roy-Carlson, L., Holcomb, M., & Gomez, M. (June 1, 2006). Poster symposium, 14th Annual Meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, San Antonio, TX.
Abstract: We examined the relationship between mentoring activities and mentors’ outcomes. We found the type of activities varied mostly as a function of the mentee’s age and sex; but, consistent with the literature on youth mentoring (Karcher, Kuperminc, Portwood, Sipe, & Taylor, 2006), the two types of activities that occurred (developmental and instrumental) had similar relationships with mentor outcomes as with mentee outcomes, such that instrumental activities predicted less satisfactory outcomes for mentors while developmental activities were positively associated with mentors’ satisfaction with mentoring.
The role of mentor-mentee ethnicity similarity in mentees’ connectedness to other cultures. [pdf]
Karcher, M. J., Roy-Carlson, L., & Benne, K. (June, 2006). Poster symposium, 14th Annual Meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, San Antonio, TX.
Abstract: Here we reported the minimal differences we found for cross- vs. same-race/ethnicity matches in the SMILE study.
Karcher, M. J., Roy-Carlson, L., Benne, K., Allen, C., Gil-Hernandez, D., Gomez, M. & Holcomb, M. (March 24, 2006). C. M. Buchanan (Chair): The Impact of Mentoring of Latino Youth: Academic Outcomes and Other Developmental Assets. Paper Symposium, biennial convention of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA.
Abstract: In this paper we examined the linkage between instrumental and developmental activities on connectedness to teachers and school. After finding negative and positive associations, respectively, we used our regression model explaining the negative associations between instrumental activities and outcomes to identify outliers, 24 of whom we subsequently interviewed to learn more about the role of activities. This resulted in a subsequent survey of events and experiences that may mediate the negative associations between instrumental activities and outcomes. This mixed method study also laid the groundwork for our proposed study of latent activity type groups over time and patterns of activities that may be better than others.
Karcher, M. J., Benne, K., Roy-Carlson, L., Allen, C., & Gil-Hernandez, D. (March 24, 2006). D. L. DuBois (Chair): Mentoring Programs for Youth: Process and Impact Findings From Recent Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Evaluations. Paper Symposium, biennial convention of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA.
Abstract: This study reports the main effects and interactions between school level, gender and treatment submitted to Prevention Science.