David L. Dubois

University of Illinois at Chicago | UIC

This qualitative review synthesizes evidence regarding how cultural humility (i.e., critical self‐reflection, challenging inequity) may be influenced by the experience of serving as a mentor in a youth program. A systematic search identified 35 qualitative studies with findings that address this question. Thematic synthesis of extracted data identi...

Background: Researchers regularly must decide what information is necessary to understand school climate and how to include climate in a study. For example, which factors and/or scales should be used, is using just 1 scale for school climate sufficient, and to what extent does the selection of a single scale influence the research findings? Aims:...

Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) facilitates mentoring relationships between youth and volunteer mentors. Although research has examined outcomes for youth in BBBS, relatively less investigation has been undertaken for volunteer outcomes. This study explored factors associated with changes in psychological well-being among BBBS volunteer mentors. Pa...

Keller's systemic model of youth mentoring posits there are multiple pathways through which all stakeholders in the youth mentoring process, including the program staff who support the match (or case managers), influence youth outcomes. This study examines case managers' direct and indirect contributions to match outcomes and tests how transitive i...

Aims. A relatively large body of research exists on the effectiveness of mentoring programs directed at youth and numerous syntheses of this literature have proven useful for advancing both research and practice. Less studied, but also important is the potential for adults serving in the role of mentor to young persons to be influenced by this expe...

This research is a randomized controlled trial of effects of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA) Community-Based Mentoring Program on the social-emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes of participating youth over a 13-month period. Seven-hundred and sixty-four youth between 9 and 14 years old were enrolled in the study through two...

This report presents interim findings from the 18-month follow-up of a randomized controlled study of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Community-Based Mentoring program.

Background: The Theory of Triadic Influence (TTI) provides a comprehensive framework for understanding adolescent substance use. Objectives: We examined mechanisms by which a TTI-guided social-emotional and character development program, Positive Action (PA), influences adolescent substance use. Study data come from the PA-Chicago, longitudinal mat...

Objective Physical activity (PA) has been proposed as an adjunct treatment and secondary prevention intervention for attention-deficit hyperactivity/impulsivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). However, meta-analyses testing effects on symptoms and functional impairment have yielded conflicting results. Methods A systematic...

Interventions implemented outside of the juvenile justice system are widely utilized with youth offenders to decrease the likelihood of future offending and justice system involvement, both of which are well-documented as being costly to youth and society at large. Olsson et al. (2021) conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of these types...

Mentoring is considered an evidence-based practice for violence prevention. This study presents a partial replication of the Take Charge! program implemented in partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBS). One hundred and eighty-eight early adolescents (M age = 12.87; 61.17% male) who were treated for peer-related assault injury in...

Electronic mentoring (e-mentoring), the integration of digital technology in mentoring relationships, has recently grown in popularity; however, the effectiveness of e-mentoring in addressing youth health has not been synthesized to date. The current study synthesizes the literature on e-mentoring to affect the health and well-being of youth (10-24...

This study explored how mentoring begins and the benefits provided for African American sexual and/or gender minority (SGM) youth. Participants were mentors and mentees living in three Mid-Atlantic cities. Mentees (ages 15–21, n = 14) identified as African American; cisgender male, transgender female, or non-binary assigned male; and had sexual int...

This study explored the experiences of mentors to youth during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study aims were to examine (1) the role of the pandemic on mentor-mentee interactions and relationships and (2) the ways in which mentors could be supported during the health crisis to better meet youth needs. Six online focus groups were c...

With a mandate to increase the capacity to support global mental health, this is the first meta-analysis with the aim of examining where the field stands in understanding the effectiveness of psychological interventions created for, and implemented with, children in African countries who experience stress and trauma. Searches for empirical randomiz...

The Social-Emotional and Character Development Scale (SECDS) is intended as a measure of social-emotional skills and character for elementary and middle school-age children. Its psychometric properties were previously supported using data collected over five waves for a cohort of students followed from grades three to five in 14 urban elementary sc...

Purpose: Antimicrobial stewardship (AS) initiatives are implemented with a goal of reducing antimicrobial resistance. It is unknown exactly how many acute care AS initiatives have since been based on social and behavioral theory. The purpose of this scoping review is to provide an updated review of theory-informed acute care AS initiatives in the p...

Volunteers are essential to the viability of a large segment of youth development programs. Yet, research on this topic has been relatively limited and it has not thus far congealed into a cohesive area of study. The contributions to this special issue advance our understanding of a number of important issues having to do with volunteerism in youth...

The objective is to develop and test dimensionality and validity of a new measure of five mentoring intervention processes drawn from emphases across prior mentoring efforts that might be the basis for effects: identification with the mentor, social and emotional support, teaching and education, and advocacy, and shared time and activity. Partial v...

Aims: This study examined predictors of mentoring relationship quality (MRQ) as reported by youth and parents participating in Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Canada one-to-one mentoring programs. Methods: Mentoring program capacity and other external supports, youth personal and environmental risk, youth and parent attitudes and motives, and...

Low-income urban African American youth experience multiple uncontrollable stressors (e.g., community violence) that impact the severity of controllable stressors (e.g., academic stressors), leading to negative life outcomes. The literature suggests the coping response may mitigate this pathway, yet as most research has assessed individual stressor...

In many mentoring programs, mentor–youth pairs have the latitude to engage in a wide range of activities together across varying community settings. Within this context, program staff are tasked with supporting development of high‐quality relationships between mentors and youth. To date, however, this role of program staff has been largely overlook...

This research investigated the potential contributions of natural mentoring relationships and ethnic identity to the academic attitudes and performance of Latinx high school students. In a sample of 347 urban Latinx students in grades 9 and 10, analyses examined the presence and quality of mentoring relationships as well as ethnic identity explorat...

BACKGROUND African American men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women bear a disproportionate burden of HIV. Young MSM account for 75% of this burden for youth. When youths lack socially protective resources such as strong networks of adults, including parents, teachers, or community members, mentors may play a critical role in promotin...

Prior research has yet to elucidate how constellations of protective factors in childhood and prevention efforts simultaneously may influence youth involvement in problem behaviors across different points in development. The current study examines how latent classes of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills, parent-child relationships, and peer...

Reports an error in "Do mentor support for ethnic-racial identity and mentee cultural mistrust matter for girls of color? A preliminary investigation" by Bernadette Sánchez, Julia Pryce, Naida Silverthorn, Kelsey L. Deane and David L. DuBois (Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, Advanced Online Publication, Oct 01, 2018, np). In this...

Objectives: The aim of this repeated-measures study was to examine the roles of cultural mistrust and perceived mentor support for ethnic–racial identity in a sample of girls of color. It was hypothesized that mentors’ support for ethnic–racial identity measured at baseline would influence relationship quality, as well as the girls’ ethnic identity...

This study examines three potential contributions (i.e., additive only, hierarchical compensatory, and hierarchical conditional) of mentor support to youth academic adjustment, taking into account interactions with support from mothers and teachers. We derived data from a larger study of the Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Canada community mento...

This research investigated the reach and effectiveness of Great Life Mentoring (GLM), a program for youth receiving outpatient mental health services in which community volunteers are paired with participating youth in one-to-one mentoring relationships. Study participants included 91 youth served by GLM over an approximately 15-year period and a r...

Background Youth with chronic physical health problems often experience social and emotional problems. We investigate the relationship between participation in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada community-based mentoring programs (BBBS) and youth social and mood outcomes by youth health status. Methods Youth newly enrolled in BBBS were classifi...

This study evaluated effects of Positive Action (PA), a school-based social-emotional and character development program, on self-esteem levels and processes among minority, low-income, urban youth. A matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled trial was conducted in 14 Chicago Public Schools with outcomes assessed longitudinally for a cohort of you...

A randomized control trial involving 806 youth (ages 10-16; 85.4% low-income households) served in U.S. Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliates investigated effects of incorporating activities to promote youth thriving into mentoring relationships over a 15-month period. Outcomes included support for thriving in youths' relationships with adults, youth...

There is growing interest in programs and policies developed to prevent or intervene in the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth (CSECY). Subsequently, it is critical to use evaluation to inform understanding of both the extent to which efforts are achieving desired objectives and how they could be strengthened moving forward. To he...

The aim of this study was to examine the associations among mentoring relationship quality (i.e., relational and instrumental quality), racial discrimination and coping efficacy with racial discrimination. Three social support models were tested, including the stress buffering, support mobilization, and support deterioration models. Participants we...

Behavioral trajectories during middle childhood are predictive of consequential outcomes later in life (e.g., substance abuse, violence). Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are designed to promote trajectories that reflect both growth in positive behaviors and inhibited development of negative behaviors. The current study used growth mixt...

We describe challenges in the 6-year longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial (CRCT) of Positive Action (PA), a social–emotional and character development (SECD) program, conducted in 14 low-income, urban Chicago Public Schools. Challenges pertained to logistics of study planning (school recruitment, retention of schools during the trial, c...

This study examined the relationship between youth mentoring status and behavioral, developmental, and emotional outcomes for 859 youths aged 6–17 participating in a national survey of Big Brothers Big Sisters community mentoring relationships (MRs). Youth self-reported behaviors and mental health occurred at the baseline assessment (before being p...

Mentoring programs show promise for preventing emotional and behavioral problems among at-risk youth, but little is known about processes that may be most critical to achieving this end. This study explored indicators of positive youth development (PYD; competence, confidence, connection, care and compassion, character) as mediators of associations...

Previous research suggests that early mentoring relationship (MR) closures may have harmful consequences for the health and well-being of youth participating in community-based mentoring programs. However, knowledge of the factors that lead some MRs to close early has been slow to emerge. This study examined patterns and correlates of early versus...

There is considerable research that suggests that school-based social-emotional programs can foster improved mental health and reduce problem behaviors for participating youth; in contrast, much less is known about the impact of these programs on physical health, even though some of these programs also include at least limited direct attention to p...

This study examined patterns and predictors of early versus late match relationship beginnings involving youth and adult volunteer mentors participating in Canadian Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) community mentoring programs. Survival and multinomial logistic regression models were estimated on a sample of 845 youth approved for service from 20 me...

Previous research has shown that activities between volunteer mentors and youth mentees are associated with relationship quality. Using data from a longitudinal investigation of Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) community mentoring relationships across Canada, the current study investigated whether different types of activities (relational and skill,...

This study evaluated effects of Positive Action, a school-based social-emotional and character development intervention, on indicators of positive youth development (PYD) among a sample of low-income, ethnic minority youth attending 14 urban schools. The study used a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled design at the school level. A multiple...

Schools can benefit from understanding how to use community volunteers to achieve academic goals. A randomized control evaluation, involving 1,139 students from 71 schools, of the school-based mentoring program of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America found modest but statistically significant improvements in the teacher-rated academic performance an...

To the Editor In the article recently published in JAMA Pediatrics on a cluster randomized trial of the Healthy Buddies program, Santos and colleagues¹ reported effect sizes for the impact of intervention on the assessed outcomes, with waist circumference and body mass index z scores serving as primary outcomes. The formula given for calculating ea...

Organizational climate has been proposed as a factor that might influence a school's readiness to successfully implement school-wide prevention programs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of teachers' perceptions of three dimensions of school organizational climate on the dosage and quality of teacher implementation of Positive Ac...

This manuscript summarizes an iterative process used to develop a new intervention for low-income urban youth at risk for negative academic outcomes (e.g., disengagement, failure, drop-out). A series of seven steps, building incrementally one upon the other, are described: 1) identify targets of the intervention; 2) develop logic model; 3) identify...

School-based social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs can influence not only SECD but also academic-related outcomes. This study evaluated the impact of one SECD program, Positive Action (PA), on educational outcomes among low-income, urban youth. The longitudinal study used a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled design. St...

We examined the effects of Positive Action (PA), a school-based social-emotional learning and health promotion program, on the emotional health of predominately low-income and ethnic minority urban youth. The study was a matched-pair, cluster-randomized controlled trial involving 14 Chicago public schools. Outcomes were assessed over a 6-year perio...

Background: Youth problem behaviors remain a public health issue. Youth in low-income, urban areas are particularly at risk for engaging in aggressive, violent, and disruptive behaviors. Purpose: To evaluate the effects of a school-based social-emotional learning and health promotion program on problem behaviors and related attitudes among low-i...

Introduction: The Positive Action (PA) program is a comprehensive, school-based, social-emotional and character development program with demonstrated effects on behavioral and mental health outcomes. In the Hawaii randomized controlled trial (RCT) of PA, the program’s impact on substance use, violence, and sexual activity were mediated by positive...

This article presents an adapted version of an established model for assessing community readiness along with an illustrative case example from the evaluation of Positive Action, a school-based social and character development intervention, implemented as part of a randomized controlled trial in Chicago Public Schools from 2004 through 2010. Commun...

Youth mentoring in contemporary perspective As many in the mentoring field had done before us, we began the first edition of the Handbook of Youth Mentoring with an historical reference to the origins of the term mentor in Homer's Odyssey. It is interesting, however, to contemplate that the concept of mentoring may have been an important factor in...

Self processes have a prominent role in the conceptual foundations of cognitive therapy. Cognitive therapy is based upon a constructionist viewpoint and assumes that each individual's construal of his or her experiences constitutes a reality of primary importance for that person (Guidano and Liotti, 1985). These perceptions pertain not only to even...

This thoroughly updated Second Edition of the Handbook of Youth Mentoring presents the only comprehensive synthesis of current theory, research, and practice in the field of youth mentoring. Editors David L. DuBois and Michael J. Karcher gather leading experts in the field to offer critical and informative analyses of the full spectrum of topics th...

A meta‐analytic review of 33 studies and 41 independent samples was conducted of the effectiveness of community‐based mental health and behavioral programs for low‐income urban youth. Findings indicated positive effects, with an overall mean effect of 0.25 at post‐test. While this is comparable to previous meta‐analytic intervention research with m...

Mitigating and preventing substance use among adolescents requires approaches that address the multitude of factors that influence this behavior. Such approaches must be tested, not only for evidence of empirical effectiveness, but also to determine the mechanisms by which they are successful. The aims of the present study were twofold: 1) To deter...

Review of the LiteratureConclusions

[Clin Psychol Sci Prac 18: 372–390, 2011] A systematic and meta-analytic review was conducted of the effectiveness of school-based mental health and behavioral programs for low-income, urban youth. Applying criteria from an earlier systematic review (Rones & Hoagwood, 2000) of such programs for all populations indicated substantially fewer effectiv...

During the past decade, mentoring has proliferated as an intervention strategy for addressing the needs that young people have for adult support and guidance throughout their development. Currently, more than 5,000 mentoring programs serve an estimated three million youths in the United States. Funding and growth imperatives continue to fuel the ex...

The effects of a school-based social-emotional and character development program, Positive Action, on the developmental trajectory of social-emotional and character-related behaviors was evaluated using data from three school-based randomized trials in elementary schools. Results come from 1) 4 years of data from students in 20 Hawai'i schools, 2)...

Mitigating and preventing substance use among adolescents requires approaches that address the multitude of factors that influence this behavior. Such approaches must be tested, not only for evidence of empirical effectiveness, but also to determine the mechanisms by which they are successful. The aims of the present study were twofold: 1) To deter...

This study examined the effects of the Positive Action (PA) programme in Chicago Public Schools on problem behaviours among a cohort of elementary school students from grade three through grade five. Using a matched-pair, randomised control design with 14 elementary schools, approximately 510 fifth-graders self-reported lifetime substance use, seri...

This research project has gone through some interesting transformations. Our original grant application to the William T. Grant Foundation proposed a year of qualitative research followed by a year of quantitative research. We were very grateful when the foundation’s then senior vice president, Robert Granger, encouraged us to focus on the qualitat...

We evaluated whether having a naturally acquired mentor during adolescence was associated with improved adult outcomes among youth with learning disabilities (YLD). Mentored youth were more likely to have graduated from high school, reported a higher level of self-esteem, and reported a higher overall number of positive outcomes than nonmentored yo...