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Introduction
Nancy L. Deutsch currently works at the Curry School of Education and Youth-Nex: Center to Promote Effective Youth Development, University of Virginia. Nancy does research in Community Psychology, Developmental Psychology and Social Psychology. Their most recent publication is 'Understanding mutuality: Unpacking relational processes in youth mentoring relationships'.
Publications
Publications (73)
Despite the volume of research on empathy and prosocial behavior, there is a dearth of studies exploring early adolescents’ experiences of practicing cognitive empathy and prosocial behavior. Without understanding both the challenges and opportunities of these two skills, we cannot effectively support their growth during this critical developmental...
This qualitative study explored the relationship between EL Education and Comparison school students’ definitions of empathy and educators’ teaching practices. We interviewed 23 5th and 6th grade students and 18 educators from nine middle schools across the United States. Students were asked to define empathy and educators described empathy teachin...
The current study examined whether autonomy‐supportive parenting practices may be associated with Black adolescents' quantity of natural mentors (i.e., adults from youths' everyday lives who youth go to for support and guidance) via adolescents' confidence. This study employed survey data from 216 Black youth and qualitative interviews from a subsa...
An integral change that occurs during adolescence is the development of independent close relationships outside of the immediate family unit. In addition to relationships with peers, adolescents are commonly engaged in natural mentoring relationships. Natural mentoring relationships are organically formed mentoring bonds between youth and adults in...
Social Support is associated with positive physical and psychological health outcomes for youth. We took a qualitative approach to examine the sources, forms, and functions of social support youth receive from natural mentoring relationships in their lives. Data for this study comes from interviews of 40 youth participating in a study of youth-adul...
The prevailing cultural narrative about middle school is that those years are extremely difficult, and the best students can hope for is to endure them until finding relief in high school. Nancy Deutsch argues that these years are, in fact, a time of great potential if schools can abandon their stereotypes about young adolescents and create school...
Though student engagement is hypothesized to be a factor in explaining student level differences in afterschool programs, the measurement of student engagement in this context is inconsistent, and findings from the small number of studies about how engagement impacts developmental and academic outcomes are mixed. In this study, we tested the factor...
This study takes a qualitative approach to determining the potential usefulness of a competency framework for mentor training. Participants were 37 college women mentoring middle school girls as part of a school-based mentoring program. Mentors were trained using a competency model designed to help them navigate the nuances and challenges of formin...
Engagement in afterschool programs is a growing area of interest for both researchers and practitioners. Though there is an emerging body of research investigating this construct, we lack an understanding of how specific dimensions of engagement are endorsed in different ways among subgroups of students. Little is known about the sources and barrie...
The proposed study integrates quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine mentors with different relationship trajectories reflect on their relationships. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, mentor reports of relationship quality are plotted over time and different growth patterns identified: (1) progressive, (2) stable-high, (3) dip...
This case study examines the way an adolescent Black boy extends his kinship network as a part of navigating and demonstrating agency in mentoring relationships with nonparental adults. We purposively selected one participant, Bodos, from the sample of a larger mixed-method study involving youth, aged 12 to 18 years, in the southeastern United Stat...
This study applies the theory of positive youth development (Lerner et al., 2010) and the youth systems framework (Varga & Zaff, 2018) to the examination of supportive peer and adult relationships across multiple contexts in which youth develop. Results of egocentric social network analysis indicated that high school‐aged youth nominated significan...
Maternal relationship characteristics have been found to impact academic and behavioral outcomes for youth. However, less is known about how and through what mechanisms these characteristics impact outcomes for mentored youth. In this study, we examined if mentoring relationship quality mediated the relations between maternal relationship character...
Through the provision of different types of social support, significant nonparental youth–adult relationships can facilitate youth’s positive development across adolescence. However, despite the potential benefits of these relationships, there has been little consideration of how the relational process may vary across different adolescent stages. U...
Studies of parental supervision often fail to consider the broader ecology in which youth are developing. In this paper, moderation and mediation analysis were utilized to examine parental supervision along with the ecological asset of supportive relationships, which have been identified as especially powerful assets, in a sample of 289 adolescents...
Results of a prior study of 205 middle school girls in the Young Women Leaders Program, a mentoring program that pairs middle school girls with college women, revealed that better quality maternal communication/trust as well as higher levels of maternal alienation were associated with stronger mentoring relationship quality for early adolescent gir...
Having or developing a sense of purpose is an important component of positive adolescent development. However, there is limited empirical understanding of how youth purpose develops and what aspects of youth’s ecologies best support purpose development during adolescence. This chapter seeks to provide insight into how significant adults, both paren...
Adults play important roles in the lives of adolescents, serving as role models, sources of social support, and providers of social capital. Natural mentoring relationships (NMRs), relationships between adults and youth that rise to a level of significance for the youth, have a positive impact on youth outcomes in a number of academic, socioemotion...
A critical mechanism through which mentors are thought to influence developmental outcomes is the mentee-mentor relationship. Attachment theories suggest that a mentee’s perceptions of other relationships in her life may impact the quality of the mentor-mentee relationship. This study tests this hypothesis. Data were drawn from a sample of 205 earl...
The present study takes a strength-based approach to understand how young people’s individual needs shape their relationships with significant non-parental adults across adolescence. The analyses drew from qualitative interviews with 27 youth across five time-points (3 years). Three types of youth needs were identified and labeled using metaphors t...
Aims
The aim of this study was to examine how relational ties among all participants in a group mentoring program related to connections within assigned mentor–mentee dyads.
Methods
College student female mentors (n = 54) and middle school‐aged female mentees ( n = 65) in eight mentoring groups completed social network surveys on multiple occasion...
Group mentoring programs offer multiple routes for influencing development, through both one-on-one relationships and relational processes in the group context. Less explored is how the group context impacts one-on-one relationships. This study investigated how the group influences the development of the mentor–mentee relationship in a group and on...
Caregiver quality of life is a predictor of physical/psychological caregiving abilities. The purpose of this study was to determine older adult and caregiver health-related quality of life and caregiver self-efficacy for surrogate decision-making. Mixed methods analyses were used for data collected from African American caregivers of African Americ...
The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between attachment, supportive nonparental youth‐adult relationships, and self‐esteem during adolescence. First, in a quantitative path analysis, we found that perceived social support from nonparental adults partially mediated the relationship between adolescent attachment and...
Evidence suggests that a close interpersonal bond is important for the success of youth–adult mentoring relationships. Mutuality has been suggested to be important for developing a close interpersonal bond (Rhodes, 2002, 2005), but mutuality remains an abstract construct, difficult to understand and cultivate. Using thematic analysis of mentor and...
Interpersonal relationships during adolescence can be powerful avenues for personal development. As school is a universal context for youth, positive teacher-student relationships (TSRs) are one potential source for such developmentally promotive relationships. Unfortunately, research has shown a decline in the quality of teacher-student interactio...
African Americans are perceived to be least likely of all racial and ethnic groups to prepare for the end of life. However, verbal plans for the end of life are of particular importance to this population and may help understand why they are less likely to possess a formal end-of-life care planning document. The purpose of this study was to determi...
The purpose of the current study was to examine understanding of end-of-life (EOL) decision-making terminology among family caregivers of African American older adults with dementia. This qualitative descriptive study was part of a larger mixed-methods study from which a subset of caregivers (n = 18) completed interviews. Data were analyzed using d...
The field of after-school programming for youth has grown substantially in the past 25 years, theoretically, methodologically, and practically. With increasingly sophisticated developmental lenses (e.g., positive youth development) and methods (e.g., mixed methods, advanced growth modeling techniques), we are now at a point where the field is ready...
Black older adults with dementia worldwide are at risk of facing the end of life without advance care plans, leaving family caregivers struggling to make life-altering, health-related decisions on their behalf. The purpose of this study was to examine surrogate end-of-life decision making for Black older adults with dementia, including understandin...
After-school programs offer young people opportunities for self-expression, exploring their talents, and forming relationships with supportive adults. That is, after-school programs promote young people’s social and emotional learning (SEL) skills-whether the programs use that term or not. Despite these programs’ potential, Noelle Hurd and Nancy De...
Background:
The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force guidelines recommend pregnant women be screened for depression and adequate systems be in place to treat this condition.
Objective:
This study examines a nurse-delivered telephone support intervention provided to low-income, pregnant women living in rural settings.
Design:
This study had a...
The second volume of this SpringerBrief presents a series of papers compiled from a conference addressing how after-school programs can promote positive youth development (PYD) hosted by Youth-Nex, the University of Virginia Center to Promote Effective Youth Development. It examines summer learning and best practices for different types of after-sc...
The first volume of this SpringerBrief presents a series of papers compiled from a conference about how after-school programs may be implemented to promote positive youth development (PYD) hosted by Youth-Nex, the University of Virginia Center to Promote Effective Youth Development. This volume reviews the importance of after-school programs for PY...
Mentoring continues to be a popular intervention for promoting positive youth development. However, the underlying mechanisms associated with sustainable and successful relationships remain largely unknown. Our study aimed to expand on previous literature by examining characteristics that have previously been linked to mentoring outcomes (e.g., aut...
(1) Determine the association between adolescent moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and screen time with their nominated friends' behaviors and (2) explore potential mechanisms of friends' social influences on MVPA and screen time. Participants consisted of 152 adolescents (mean age: 14.5 years, 53 % female, 50 % high school, 80 % Caucas...
Group mentoring is an increasingly popular intervention, but is still under-studied. This article reports findings from a qualitative study of the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP), a combined group and one-on-one mentoring program for early adolescent girls. Protégés (n = 113) were interviewed post-program about changes they made as a result of t...
We are interested in understanding the individual and environmental attributes that contribute to a youth’s sense of connection. Specifically, we explore the ways in which close relationships with nonparental adults (such as teachers, coaches, mentors) are 1 vector of connection through which PYD occurs. We focus on interview transcripts from 37 yo...
In this article, we explore how researchers can more fully consider and conceptualize the role of race and ethnicity in studies of youth development programs, with an emphasis on positive youth development (PYD). Such a focus can be integrated in a more meaningful way through the application of a theoretical model that provides a framework for unde...
Healthy development necessitates that adolescents maintain connections with others while developing an autonomous identity. In the extant literature, however, autonomy and relatedness are often placed at odds, particularly in discussions of girls. We explore how autonomy and relatedness co-occur in girls’ interactions with peers and mentors in the...
This study explored engagement in interpersonal relationships within the context of combined group and one-on-one mentoring. Using flow theory, we propose that "relational flow" requires an optimal balance between an individual's relational skills and the challenges inherent in relationship development. The Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP) is a r...
This study explored engagement in interpersonal relationships within the context of combined group and one-on-one mentoring. Using flow theory, we propose that “relational flow” requires an optimal balance between an individual's relational skills and the challenges inherent in relationship development. The Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP) is a r...
The current study explores the potential of one-on-one mentoring facilitated within a structured group format for developing connection and sustaining mentor-mentee relationships with early adolescent girls. Results from a mixed-methods study using survey and observational data reveal that college student mentors and their seventh grade mentees rep...
The negotiation of complex social settings and the creation of an integrated identity are major tasks of adolescence. Institutions such as after-school programs can influence social-emotional development through organizational and interpersonal practices, and prosocial growth can be encouraged through the alignment of supportive structures with dev...
To optimize the effectiveness of youth mentoring it is important to begin to identify specific preexisting characteristics of mentors that lead to positive experiences for adolescent mentees. College women mentors, aged 18 to 22 years, were paired with middle school girls, aged 11 to 14 years, for weekly one-on-one and group mentoring in an 8-month...
We used mixed methods to examine the association between setting-level factors and observed implementation of a social and emotional learning intervention (Responsive Classroom® approach; RC). In study 1 (N = 33 3rd grade teachers after the first year of RC implementation), we identified relevant setting-level factors and uncovered the mechanisms t...
This paper focused on the effects of a combined group and one-on-one mentoring program targeted specifically toward adolescent girls with a focus on increasing competence, connection, and autonomy (Ryan and Deci in Am Psychol 55(1):68–78, 2000). Participants were seventh-grade girls participating in the Young Women Leaders Program (YWLP) (n = 79) a...
Staff–youth relationships are a key strength of after-school settings, though more research is needed to understand the actual processes whereby these interpersonal connections lead to beneficial outcomes. This qualitative study focuses on the relational strategies that staff employ within an urban youth organization, and the ways in which those st...
Women adult students face particular constraints when pursuing degrees. This paper uses focus group data to explore the educational pathways, barriers, and supports of women students. Women's educations are shaped by personal and structural gendered forces, including family, economic, and workplace issues. Women report conflict over short-term sacr...
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...
This article focuses on how consumerism, as a social ideology, and consumption, as an individual activity, are used by adolescents to mark and mask differences in the process of identity construction. Data are drawn from an ethnographic study of urban youth. The act of consuming for the adolescents in this study forms an integral part of their iden...
Mentoring programs pose some special challenges for quality assessment because they operate at two levels: that of the dyadic relationship and that of the program. Fully assessing the quality of youth mentoring relationships requires understanding the characteristics and processes of individual relationships, which are the point of service for ment...
Authority is an important component of adult-youth relations. Little work has been done exploring authority outside of families and classrooms. This article consolidates findings from two studies of urban after-school programs. The article examines youths' experiences of authority in after-school programs, compares those with their reports of autho...
Teens in America's inner cities grow up and construct identities amidst a landscape of relationships and violence, support and discrimination, games and gangs. In such contexts, local environments such as after-school programs may help youth to mediate between social stereotypes and daily experience, or provide space for them to consider themselves...
Relationship and identity are intertwined in complex ways. In this chapter, the author describes the experience of a young African American man whose involvement in a community program mitigated an early history of relational disruption. This program embedded him in a chain of relationships, a community of support that created a sense of relational...
The development of moral identity is linked to a sense of self that is prosocial and connected to others. Youth organizations, if designed appropriately, may provide a setting for social interactions and relationships in which youth can enact and receive validation for moral behaviors and develop prosocial selves. This chapter reports on findings f...
Policy makers have looked to after-school programs to support at-risk adolescents. Yet few researchers have taken a developmental approach to these spaces. Youth organizations can be positive developmental settings, assisting adolescents in their primary developmental task: identity integration. Yet we do not know enough about identity processes am...
During her years as a graduate student, the author was involved in not only the outward process of research but also the inward process of developing her own identity as a researcher. This article outlines her experiences as a woman and as a researcher engaging in the process of becoming a qualitative researcher and writer. It grapples with the iss...
The current study explores parental socialization practices and the values transmitted to school-aged and young adult off-spring, focusing on race and gender issues involved in parental teachings. A community sample of 187 black and white mothers and fathers were interviewed with regards to their parenting practices using both quantitative and qual...
This paper examines the existing literature and MedWatch reports concerning a proposed relationship between isotretinoin and depression and suicide. The authors provide a brief overview of the biology of isotretinoin and depressive disorder and find no basis for a putative molecular mechanism linking the two. They also address the complexities of S...
The challenges of early adolescence are intensified for girls of color who live in disadvantaged urban communities. One response to the needs of these girls comes from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), a youth development organization that has a long-standing presence in inner-city neighborhoods. A gender equity initiative designed to stren...