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Mentors for High-Risk Minority Youth: From Effective Communication to Bicultural Competence
Abstract
Proposes a contextually based social-learning formulation of how successful mentoring programs combat delinquency, school dropout, teen pregnancy, and unemployment among inner city, minority youth. Successful mentors are biculturally competent, proud of their origins, and effective in underclass as well as mainstream contexts. Through effective communication, mentors ally with proteges and inspire them toward bicultural competence. When proteges lack skills required for bicultural competence, mentoring combined with behavioral skill training at home, at school, and with peers can promote acquisition, generalization, and maintenance of necessary skills. A prevention program offering mentoring and behavioral skill training in multiple natural contexts offers both political pragmatism and scientific credibility.
... Mentoring as a tool for intervening with troubled children has become increasingly popular in recent years (Blechman, 1992). Mentors have been used as paratherapists for children of divorce and as role models for high-risk minority youth (Cowen, Zax, & Laird, 1966;Taylor, 1982). ...
... Despite the surge of interest in mentoring, there remains a disturbing lack of empirical research on the topic (Stein, 1987). Without a well-grounded "technology" of mentoring, the promise inherent in this approach will never be fully realized (Blechman, 1992). The few empirical studies that exist raise doubts about the viability of mentoring programs as a prevention tool. ...
... These programs were based on the belief that a relationship with an untrained but interpersonally warm and empathic adult would have a therapeutic effect on disadvantaged or maladaptive children. Blechman (1992) has argued that mentoring programs are being promulgated prematurely, before we have adequate knowledge of how they may work, if at all. For example, recent funding initiatives by the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice to provide millions of dollars to support mentoring programs are based largely on quasi-experimental studies that have yet to be subjected to the peer review process. ...
PrimeTime is a school-based secondary prevention program that integrates empirically supported treatment components into a unified intervention. We use our experience with PrimeTime to illustrate recommended practices in school-based interventions. First, however, we present a rationale for schools as logical sites for the delivery of psychological health services, especially prevention services, and place PrimeTime within the context of educational and health care restructuring. Next we articulate our conceptualization of the development of conduct problems that underlies the PrimeTime intervention and describe the intervention components. We strive to make clear the connections between our theory of the development of conduct problems, our theory of change, and our intervention components. We evaluate the empirical support for PrimeTime by first reviewing the empirical support for each of the four separate interventions, based on published literature, and then reviewing the first round of outcome data for the integrated intervention. In evaluating these data, we assess support for the efficacy of the intervention as well as support for the underlying theoretical conceptualization. We conclude with a discussion of practical issues in implementing schoolbased prevention programs, including eliciting school support and obtaining operating funds.
... Factors that may place young people at risk of disengaging from school, employment and community are often multiple and complex in nature (Blechman 1992) and include: ...
... • One-to-one mentoring: where one mentor works with one mentee. This is the most common form of mentoring (see also Blechman 1992). ...
... Mentoring is typically viewed as a primary prevention strategy that contributes to improvements in affective or instrumental domains (Blechman 1992 • The affective or psychosocial domain includes emotional support, encouragement, advocating change, and developing goals/aspirations. ...
What we know • There is a range of risk factors that may make young people of any ethnicity more likely to engage in antisocial behaviours. These factors include the young person's own attitudes; relationships within the family; and growing up in communities where there is widespread violence, alcohol and other substance abuse, poverty, poor health and poor-quality housing. Indigenous young people face the additional challenges of dispossession, discontinuity of culture and intergenerational trauma. • A strong connection to culture—coupled with high self-esteem, a strong sense of autonomy, and with living in cohesive, functioning families and communities—can be protective factors that result in Indigenous young people choosing productive life pathways. • Mentoring is a relationship intervention strategy that can assist in building some of these protective factors. A growing body of research demonstrates that mentoring can have powerful and lasting positive effects in improving behavioural, academic and vocational outcomes for at-risk youth and, to a more limited extent, in reducing contact with juvenile justice systems. • In an Indigenous context, mentoring is a particularly promising initiative because it fits well with Indigenous teaching and learning styles and can help to build strong collective ties within a community. • Mentoring programs can involve adult or peer mentors and can be implemented in a range of ways, such as one-on-one or in groups. • Although positive results can be achieved with single-intervention mentoring for at risk youth, integrating mentoring into broader programs produces a greater level of positive change. • The way the mentoring program is run and the nature of the relationship between mentor and mentee are crucial in determining the outcomes of youth mentoring programs.
... The first is to assist with efforts to advance youth mentoring beyond political appeal and social faddism (Mosle, 2000). Mentoring programs currently enjoy wide public support as a remedy to the problems of at-risk youth (e.g., Armstrong, 2000;Dortch, 2000); however, sound research in support of this practice is surprisingly sparse (Blechman, 1992;DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper 2002;Rhodes, 1994;Smith, 2002). If child mentoring is to be more than a passing fancy, it needs a firm research base. ...
... Sorely lacking are empirical trials in which children are assigned randomly to mentoring or comparison conditions (see Grossman, this volume). Other problems include (a) inconsistent operational definitions of mentoring, (b) poor program infrastructure, (c) little attention to program fidelity, (d) overreliance on nonstandardized self-report measures, (e) a failure to assess mentor or child characteristics affecting the relationship, and (f) a reluctance to consider potential iatrogenic effects (see reviews by Blechman, 1992;DuBois, Holloway, et al., 2002;Freedman, 1992;Rhodes, 1994;Rhodes, Haight, & Briggs, 1999;Smith, 2002;Stein, 1987). Another serious limitation has been the failure to use designs that are sensitive to the potential long-term impact of mentoring. ...
... More than a decade ago, Blechman (1992) concluded that studies of mentoring lacked clear articulation of the underlying principles and theoretical models upon which decisions about mentoring were made. That assessment is true today, especially for child-focused mentoring. ...
... When applying the theory to relationships among adolescents and caring adults, research has described the positive psychological benefits to adolescents stemming from these relationships (Spencer, et al., 2004;Anderson-Butcher & Cash, 2010;Eccles & Gootman, 2002;Bleechman, 1992). Relational-cultural theory, when applied to relationships among adolescents and nonparental adults, helps to explain the positive psychological benefits found by research on adolescents and relationships with caring adults (Spencer et al., 2004;Liang et al., 2010; ...
... Mentoring is defined as a "one-to-one relationship between a youth and a caring adult who assists the youth in meeting academic, social, career or personal goals" (DuBois, & Neville, 1997, p. 227) The support and guidance from influential adults has been found to be critical for adolescents' transition into adulthood and such support and guidance may be found in mentoring relationships (Georgiou, Demetriou, & Stavrinides, 2008). Mentoring relationships have been found to improve adolescents' chances of success at school as well as enhance emotional adjustment (Bleechman, 1992;Georgiou et al., 2008). A mentor that provides the adolescent with a positive adult role model will allow the adolescent to develop positive images of adults and may lead to improvements in communication skills and self-esteem. ...
... Mentors communicate with adolescents through modeling, instruction, rehearsal, or reinforcement. Reinforcement may be most effective for contributing to PYD because the mentor strengthens performance skills by praising effective communication (Bleechman, 1992). The provision of praise and positive reinforcement from an adult role model may increase adolescent's feelings of self-worth and lead to a more positive identity development. ...
... Several critical elements of effective mentoring practices are suggested in the literature on school-based mentoring. The most noteworthy elements of effective mentoring include: (1) selecting mentors with high levels of commitment to and compatibility with mentees (2) training mentors to use effective time management, trust building strategies and communication strategies (3) supporting mentor programs through ongoing program supervision and (4) evaluating programs to produce progressive improvement (Blechman, 1992;White-Hood, 1993;Blum, 1993;Bein, 1999;Sinclair, 1998;Terry, 1999;King et al., 2002;Ryan, Whittaker & Pinckney, 2002). Furthermore, these studies make specific recommendations in regards to these critical components of effective mentoring. ...
... Selecting mentors. The most frequently recognized mentor attributes cited in the school-based literature include: time commitment, positive character, effectiveness in communicating and building trust, and genuine caring for the child (Blechman, 1992;Flaxman, 1992;Blum, 1993;Bein, 1999;Foster, 1999;Ryan et al., 2002;King et al., 2002,). Researchers indicate that mentors possessing these characteristics tend to foster mentoring relationships that produce successful outcomes. ...
... Second, a comprehensive description of effective mentoring practices has evolved in the literature but has not been extensively tested, replicated or improved upon within the context of school-based mentoring (Blechman, 1992;Jekielek et al., 2002;Higgins & Boone, 2003;Ryan, 2002). Replication of effective mentoring practices might lead to less variation, more standardization, and improved outcomes among mentoring programs. ...
... In terms of volunteer orientation and training for one-to-one mentoring, research has indicated that more than six hours of training is optimal (Herrera et al, 2000), and that the perceived quality of training directly affects a mentor's sense of efficacy, their perceived quality of a match, and its duration (Parra, DuBois, Neville, Pugh-Lilly, & Pavinelli, 2002). Areas noted for particular attention in training include issues involving matches with older and/or high-risk children and youth (Bauldry & Hartmann, 2004), cross-race matches (Jocovy, 2002), inexperienced mentors, and emphasis on bicultural competence (Barron-McKeagney & D'Souza, 2001;Blechman, 1992). ...
... Another issue that is increasingly being addressed is the need to investigate ways to provide assistance for at-risk families (e.g. aiding parenting issues and developing parenting skills (Blechman, 1992;Milne, Chalmers, Waldie, Darling, & Poulton, 2002). A mentoring approach that is integrated into the family setting in order to improve family relationships has also been piloted and studied with positive results (Barron-McKeagney & D'Souza, 2001). ...
... Other mentor qualities that improve the chances of a successful match are: a multidimensional understanding of high-risk youth (Grineski, 2003); bicultural competence (Blechman, 1992); and mentors who are realistic, good listeners, respectful of boundaries, involve mentees in decision making, and sensitive to differences (Buckley & Zimmermann, 2003;Freedman, 1999). As has been previously discussed, group mentoring and school-based mentoring open up the field in terms of mentor characteristics and allow for more cross-gender matching, including mentors who may not want to engage in an intense inter-personal relationship, and involve the business community, through their employees, to be actively involved in mentoring at-risk youth and children (Rhodes, 2002). ...
CUISR is a partnership between a set of community-based organizations (including Saskatoon District Health, the City of Saskatoon, Quint Development Corporation, the Saskatoon Regional Intersectoral Committee on Human Services) and a large number of faculty and graduate students from the University of Saskatchewan. CUISR's mission is "to serve as a focal point for community-based research and to integrate the various social research needs and experiential knowledge of the community-based organizations with the technical expertise available at the University. It promotes, undertakes, and critically evaluates applied social research for community-based organizations, and serves as a data clearinghouse for applied and community-based social research. The overall goal of CUISR is to build the capacity of researchers, community-based organizations and citizenry to enhance community quality of life." This mission is reflected in the following objectives: (1) to build capacity within CBOs to conduct their own applied social research and write grant proposals; (2) to serve as a conduit for the transfer of experientially-based knowledge from the community to the University classroom, and transfer technical expertise from the University to the community and CBOs; (3) to provide CBOs with assistance in the areas of survey sample design, estimation and data analysis, or, where necessary, to undertake survey research that is timely, accurate and reliable; (4) to serve as a central clearinghouse, or data warehouse, for community-based and applied social research findings; and (5) to allow members of the University and CBOs to access a broad range of data over a long time period. As a starting point, CUISR has established three focused research modules in the areas of Community Health Determinants and Health Policy, Community Economic Development, and Quality of Life Indicators. The three-pronged research thrust underlying the proposed Institute is, in operational terms, highly integrated. The central questions in the three modules—community quality of life, health, and economy—are so interdependent that many of the projects and partners already span and work in more than one module. All of this research is focused on creating and maintaining healthy, sustainable communities.
... Adolescent Parent: Pregnancy or a born child occurring in young women between the ages of 13 and 19 (Jossi, 2005). 1990, 1992. The 1988 and 1992 study examined data on student's school experiences and personal background information. ...
... The majority of high-risk youth live in neighborhoods with high incidents of crime, teen pregnancy, dropout, and welfare (Blechman, 1992). Youth who are subjected to high-risk circumstances have less coping skills and opportunities. ...
... Dropouts reported higher levels of external support of childcare than current students. This finding was contrary to past studies that suggest the lack of childcare for adolescent mothers contribute towards high school dropout (Blechman, 1992). Students with adequate childcare may feel less overwhelmed and more likely to continue their academic pursuits. ...
... As these relationships are built, Coleman (1990) proposes that simultaneously social capital is built. For instance, adults assist youths with access to otherwise unavailable resources (Flaxman, Ascher, & Harrington, 1989); support youths in their social, career, and personal goals (McPartland & Nettles, 1991); help youths with academic success (Blechman, 1992;McPartland & Nettles, 1991;Staudt, 1995); counsel youths in relation to family and life conflicts (Halpern et al., 2000); and enhance youths' self-esteem and pro-social attitudes (Staudt, 1995). In essence, various adults leaders and program staff at youth development organizations accept the responsibility to support, shape, and guide younger, less skilled, and/or less experienced youths by transmitting knowledge (Blechman, 1992), teaching new or challenging tasks (Flaxman et al., 1988), and helping them mature, develop social competencies, and reach age-appropriate specific goals (Einolf, 1995). ...
... For instance, adults assist youths with access to otherwise unavailable resources (Flaxman, Ascher, & Harrington, 1989); support youths in their social, career, and personal goals (McPartland & Nettles, 1991); help youths with academic success (Blechman, 1992;McPartland & Nettles, 1991;Staudt, 1995); counsel youths in relation to family and life conflicts (Halpern et al., 2000); and enhance youths' self-esteem and pro-social attitudes (Staudt, 1995). In essence, various adults leaders and program staff at youth development organizations accept the responsibility to support, shape, and guide younger, less skilled, and/or less experienced youths by transmitting knowledge (Blechman, 1992), teaching new or challenging tasks (Flaxman et al., 1988), and helping them mature, develop social competencies, and reach age-appropriate specific goals (Einolf, 1995). These caring adults are committed to the program and its youth participants; are consistent in the messages they teach; and communicate caring while setting clear boundaries, rules, and expectations (McLaughlin, 2000). ...
... Furthermore, adult leaders and program staff within these youth development programs oftentimes assume quasi-parental/guardian roles as advisors and role models for high-risk youths (Anderson-Butcher & Lawson, 2001;Barron-McKeagney et al., 2001;Blechman;Hamilton & Hamilton, 1992;Haensly & Parsons, 1993;Smink, 1990;Yancey, 1998), providing psychological and emotional support that leads to attitudinal and behavioral changes (Barron-McKeagney et al., 2001;Blechman et al., 1992;Flaxman et al., 1989;Halpern et al., 2000;Roth & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). This is particularly important in urban neighborhoods where many youths do not have significant adult role models and supports (Freedman, 1993). ...
Youth development organizations are key institutions that contribute to healthy outcomes for youths. The development of caring staff-youth relationships is one key youth development program strategy. Using structural equation modeling, the present study examined the importance of these relationships on impacting school-related attitudes and behaviors among 149 youth participants in a Boys & Girls Club program. Results indicate that staff-youth relationships are positively related to the development of pro-social school behaviors, and negatively associated with the display of anti-social school behaviors. Findings point to the importance of supportive staff-youth relationships within institutions serving youths.
... During the past decade youth mentoring has become a topic of growing interest in education and the human services. Mentoring programs have largely targeted adolescents and teens, usually minorities (Balcazar, Majors, Blanchard, & Paine, 1991;Blechman, 1992;Payne, Cathcart, & Pecora, 1995;Roberts & Cotton, 1994); those at risk of school dropout (Blum & Jones, 1993;Slicker & Palmer, 1993); those in foster care (Payne et al., 1995;Mech, Pryde, & Ryecroft, 1995); those at risk of drug abuse (LoSciuto, Rajala, Townsend, & Taylor, 1996); and teen mothers (Rhodes, 1993;Zippay, 1995). ...
... Through shared activities, guidance, information, and encouragement, the individual gains in character and competence and begins setting positive life goals. Mentoring can help the person to get on a successful life track, specifically, by preventing premature derailment that often comes with school dropout or involvement with drugs, crime, and violence (Flaxman, Ascher, & Harrington, 1988;Freedman, 1991;Blechman, 1992). ...
... A recent comprehensive review of evaluations of youth development programs noted the "paucity of high quality outcome evaluations of programs fitting the youth development framework" (Roth, Brooks-Gunn, Murray, & Foster, 1998). Blechman (1992) believes that mentoring programs should have goals that translate to success for atrisk youth and should conduct research using multiple methods and multiple respondents for evaluating the effectiveness of mentoring. The following brief review of evaluation studies that focus specifically on mentoring will allow for clarification of the intervention and evaluation goals of the present study. ...
The Family Mentoring Project, which provided approximately one year of mentoring for at-risk 10-year old Latino children and their parents, aimed to provide not only service but empirical evaluation of the program's impact. This University-community partnership offered individual mentoring, a group educational component for children and parents, and group social/recreational activities. A pre- and post-test analysis of 11 non-mentored and 20 mentored youth revealed positive gains on social skills for mentored children as reflected in self-ratings and mothers' ratings on the Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS). Also based on the SSRS, mothers reported decreases in three problem behaviors for mentored children. In addition, by post-testing, the mentored children and their mothers compared very favorably with the SSRS standardized samples on both skills and problem behaviors. The findings suggest that bicultural competence may be fostered by programs that provide consistent and long-term mentoring, involve the children's families, include group educational components, and bring families and mentors together for social/recreational events.
... Past studies that have aimed to answer the question of whether or not mentors and mentees in formal mentoring relationships should be matched based on race and ethnicity have largely been inconclusive (Ensher, & Murphy, 1997;Sanchez, et al., 2014). Findings from same-race versus cross-race mentoring matches have been mixed as some scholars recommended samerace matches (Cohen, et al., 1999;Yancey, et al., 2002) while others advocate for cross-race matches (Blechman, 1992). However variable, the results of these studies accentuate the importance of considering race and ethnicity to be pertinent concepts that need to be discussed and kept in mind when designing youth mentoring programs. ...
The increasing diversity of youth in the United States necessitates a shift in the ways that youth services and programming are designed and implemented. This article examines existing scholarship on developing the cultural competency of volunteers in youth development programs in an effort to improve 4-H YDP protocol. Drawing from a diverse, interdisciplinary range of peer-reviewed, academic articles, this literature review plots out recent pedagogical trends, theoretical concepts, and empirical studies dealing with the cultural competence of service workers and mentors interacting with youth. Based on a synthesis of the findings, this paper presents guiding principles for increasing cultural competence of youth program design through both training and organizational changes.
... There are several reasons this might occur. First, supportive mentoring relationships may bridge local patterns of language and behavior among youth and the more formal atmosphere of human service settings in ways that enhance the impact of services provided in those settings (Blechman, 1992). Second, interactions with a mentor may provide a safe and effective context for practice and reinforcement of skills learned through a didactic curriculum. ...
... However, this concept of mentoring may not extend to guidance and support provided by non-Aboriginal mentors in popular mentoring programs with cultural continuity believed to be an important protective factor for AB youth (Chandler & Lalonde, 2008). Some proponents of mentoring (e.g., Blechman, 1992) suggest that mentoring may help youth from ethnic minority groups develop ''bi-cultural competence,'' the capacity to function within two cultural contexts while retaining a sense of pride in one's own identity. Thus, it is possible that AB youth may benefit from the guidance and support of a mentor even more so than non-AB youth, particularly if they benefit from a strong cultural identity. ...
We compared the mentoring experiences and mental health and behavioral outcomes associated with program-supported mentoring for 125 Aboriginal (AB) and 734 non-Aboriginal (non-AB) youth ages 6-17 participating in a national survey of Big Brothers Big Sisters community mentoring relationships. Parents or guardians reported on youth mental health and other outcomes at baseline (before youth were paired to a mentor) and at 18 months follow-up. We found that AB youth were significantly less likely than non-AB youth to be in a long-term continuous mentoring relationship. However, AB youth were more likely than non-AB youth to be in a long-term relationship ending in dissolution. AB youth were also more likely than non-AB youth to have been mentored by a female adult. AB youth were significantly more likely than non-AB youth to report a high quality mentoring relationship, regular weekly contact with their mentor, and monthly mentoring activities. Structural equation model results revealed that, relative to non-mentored AB youth, AB youth with mentors experienced significantly fewer emotional problems and symptoms of social anxiety. These relationships were not found for non-AB youth. Our findings suggest that mentoring programs may be an effective intervention for improving the health and well-being of AB youth.
... Daartegenover staan argumenten die pleiten voor interetnische mentoringrelaties. Ze zouden juist bijdragen aan het overbruggen van sociale verschillen en het kritisch bezien van vooroordelen (Blechman 1992). Maar het belangrijkste argument van voorstanders is wel dat de kans op effectiviteit bij beide typen mentoringrelaties even groot is, zoals onderzoek aangetoond heeft (Morrow en Styles 1995;Herrera et al. 2000;Rhodes et al. 2002). ...
Steeds meer wordt de woonconcentratie van allochtonen in Nederland gezien als schadelijk voor integratie. En het geringe contact tussen autochtonen en allochtonen als problematisch. Inmiddels zijn in Nederland - op lokaal en landelijk niveau - tal van initiatieven genomen om meer gemengde woonwijken te krijgen. Op allerlei manieren tracht men verschillende bevolkingsgroepen met elkaar in contact te brengen.
Om zicht te krijgen op de aard en de werking van deze interventies is nagegaan wat er in Nederland en daarbuiten zoals op dit gebied gebeurt. Twee vragen staan centraal: wat wordt er gedaan en wat werkt?
... Resilience is considered to be a function of, in part, strong socioemotional bonds with individuals in positive, predictable relationships. Research suggests that at-risk youth who are involved with at least one caring adult may be more likely to overcome the negative effects of socioeconomic disadvantage, family dysfunction, and exposure to violence (Blechman, 1992;Rhodes & Lowe, 2008). In the absence of familial and peer support, it is reasonable to expect that at-risk youth may benefit considerably from a relationship with an adult mentor. ...
Mentoring is a popular and widespread intervention for at-risk youth that can positively influence this population’s adaptation to stressors and increase overall resilience. Yet there is a lack of attention to how mentoring relationships work or the attributes of mentoring that contribute to successful outcomes. In this study, we employ qualitative in-depth interviews with mentors in a school-based program to learn about their perceptions of the strain experienced by their mentees, and how they respond to it during sessions. We focus on emotional regulation, conflict resolution, future orientation, and active listening - four positive coping strategies associated with enhanced resilience among at-risk youth. This study considers how these positive strategies fit into mentors’ descriptions of their approaches and the implications for intervention programming.
... Some youth expressed a desire to spend time with the facilitators outside of school, suggesting that the program include mentors or big brothers for participants. This finding corroborates the mentorship literature that suggests that for youth labeled at risk, or who have been marginalized, having a mentor can decrease the likelihood of discipline referrals and school dropout (Blechman, 1992;Royse, 1998). More recently, Tolan, Hentry, Schoeny, Lovegrove, and Nichols (2014) conducted a meta-analytic review of mentoring programs for youth labeled at risk, concluding that mentoring significantly reduces delinquency and aggression, and promotes academic functioning in mentored youth. ...
A growing body of research suggests educators need to focus on cultivating social and emotional competencies that youth will need to thrive in the new knowledge economy (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 201117.
Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The impact of enhancing student's social and emotional learning: A meta-analysis of school-based universal interventions. Child Development, 82, 405–432. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x.View all references). For marginalized urban youth, in particular, few have derived programs and interventions to assist with these competencies. This study illuminates the perspectives of 9 African American youth at risk for academic failure taking part in the Fulfill the Dream (FTD) program. FTD is a social and emotional learning curriculum emphasizing social justice and critical consciousness through the utilization of hip-hop culture. Information regarding the nature of the collaboration of this research project and recommendations for education professionals working with marginalized youth are discussed.
... Thus, the children doing well in these schools are at greater risk for school failure and dropout than are comparable youth in other schools. Therefore, this sample does not reflect a population of mentees at academic or behavioral risk (Blechman, 1992), but a group with high potential who are at environmental risk. ...
... To the extent that these new contacts share the norms and values of the mentor, they provide a form of informal social control that multiplies and rein forces the socializing influence of the mentor (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996). When the youth becomes familiar and conversant with settings different from his or her typical experience, the result may be a form of bicultural competence that expands the youth's repertoire (Blechman, 1992). For example, the youth may accompany the mentor to the workplace and learn about expectations and conventions in this context. ...
This chapter contains section titled: Context of Youth Mentoring What Purpose is Youth Mentoring Meant to Serve? Why do Individuals Become Mentors? How do Mentoring Relationships Develop? How do Mentoring Relationships Influence Youth Development? Conclusion Author Note References Context of Youth Mentoring What Purpose is Youth Mentoring Meant to Serve? Why do Individuals Become Mentors? How do Mentoring Relationships Develop? How do Mentoring Relationships Influence Youth Development? Conclusion Author Note References
... Munsch and Wampler (1993) found that families in high-risk environments were often "rendered powerless" as a support system for their children because they faced many of the same issues as their kids. Blechman's (1992) research suggested that single mothers with highrisk children may benefit more from mentoring type programs than their children. This was due to mother becoming empowered, which gave them the confidence to exert more influence over their children. ...
... Historical context is another important factor to understand aggressive or violent behaviour of aboriginal adolescents. For example, Barton et al. (1997) and Blechman (1992) reported that collaborative partnership between citizens, primary institutions; service providers and public officials should be engaged in promoting the health and well-being of adolescents and their families. Thus, in order to reduce aggression of aboriginal adolescent boys and girls, it is important to implement these at the individual, family, school and community levels. ...
Aggression behaviour in 160 adult Chakma tribal students was studied. The subjects were equally divided into boys and girls. Each category was again subdivided into early adolescent and late adolescent. Age of early adolescent group ranged from 11 to 14 years and late adolescent group ranged from 15 to 18 years. Thus, the study used a 2×2 factorial design representing two levels of gender (boy versus girl) and two levels of stage of development (early versus late adolescence). The measure of aggressive behaviour was administered on the sample for data collection. It was found that regardless of stage of development, boys expressed significantly higher rates of aggression than girls. Similarly, regardless of gender, respondents at early adolescent stage expressed significantly higher rates of aggression than the respondents at late adolescent stage. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jles.v6i0.9722 JLES 2011 6: 59-63
... For over two decades, at-risk students have been studied from a variety of viewpoints ranging from mentoring (Blechman 1992), basic skills (Dixon-Floyd & Johnson 1997), depression (Eacott 2008), speech and language disorders (Thatcher et al., 2008), and living skills (Prince et al., 2010). Communication skills as a topic of concern for at-risk students was specifically highlighted by Mc Whirter et al. (1994) when the author'sargued that low or at-risk students needed to develop five "C's" of competence to help them succeed. ...
At-Risk Students and Communication Skill Deficiencies: A Preliminary Study
Kevin T. Jones
Abstract
Early research has explored the relationship between at-risk students and communication apprehension. Atrisk students have been found to have high levels of apprehension in a variety of communication settings. However, little attention has been given to exploring at-risk students perceptions of their communication skills and other areas of communication competency beyond general communication apprehension or fear of speaking. This study explores the relationship between at-risk students; self reported levels of communication competence, communication apprehension, and additional areas of communication skills such as selfmonitoring and verbal aggressiveness. The results of this study show that at-risk students tend to report having high communication competency levels, while testing very low on communication skill areas. Study implications and suggested areas for future research and curriculum development for teachers are explored.
Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v3n3a1
... Other authors have also used models of bicultural competence to conceptualize development of effective functioning for individuals from marginalized groups (Blechman, 1992;Parks, 1999;Villalba, 2007). The implication is that, unlike • Developing a social support system that will serve to reduce the inevitable stress created by bicultural living ...
... Researchers have yet to settle on a single definition of mentoring (Brown, 1996). Blechman (1992) defines mentoring as "a process whereby an experienced individual transmits knowledge to a protégé" (161). Barron-McKeagney et al (2001) provide a definition for vulnerable youth as, "Mentoring is essentially a process aimed at strengthening an individual at risk through a personal relationship with a more experienced and caring person" (120). ...
Institutional disadvantages at every educational level for Latinos/as create a shortage of Latino/a professionals, which in turn creates a paucity of mentors for the fastest-growing student population. This review examines peer-reviewed literature focused on mentoring Latinos/as from Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) through professional settings, which is also known as the Pre-K to 20+ Pathway. Because of challenges in measuring program outcomes and the informal nature in which many mentoring relationships for Latinos/as take place, methodological limitations within the current Latino/a mentoring literature exist. Findings should be viewed with cautious optimism, but indeed as the foundation for establishing a more robust body of knowledge.
... This type of relationship allows youth someone to count on or depend on. Mentoring programs have been found to improve prevention or treatment outcomes for traumatized youth (Blechman, 1992; Grossman & Garry, 1997; Keating, Tomishima, Foster, & Alessandri, 2002; OJJDP, 1998). Studies have shown that youth who participate in mentoring programs compared to youth who do not are less likely to engage in antisocial activities, such as substance use and violence as well as increase their academic performance (Grossman & Garry, 1997). ...
This study investigated the moderating role of social support (i.e., “having anyone to count on”) on the relationship between male youths' exposure to violence and other stressful life events and their violent behavior. Self-report interviews from a nationally representative sample of male adolescents aged 12 to 17 and their caretakers were used to assess youths' lifetime exposure to violence (i.e., being a victim and/or witness to physically abusive punishment, physical assault, sexual assault, and witnessing violence), past-year stressful life events (i.e., the loss of positively valued stimuli and the blockage of positively valued goals), levels of social support, and their violent offending behavior. Having someone to count on buffered the impact of being a victim of physical abuse and witnessing violence on violent offending. Potentially confounding variables, such as age, race/ethnicity, social class, family structure, geographic location, negative affect, and delinquent peer exposure were controlled. These findings underscore the significant role that social support may have on decreasing the likelihood that adolescent males who experienced trauma would engage in violent offending. Implications for intervention and suggestions for future research are discussed.
... According to this theory, broad social networks provide access to resources that can help young people to 'get ahead' through ideas, skills, approaches, and goals that they would not otherwise discover. Contextually based social-learning theory (e.g., Blechman, 1992) emphasizes the importance of mentors being 'biculturally competent'-that is, competent in both the culture within individual families and in the larger community of which they are a part. Mentors with these skills are able to assist children, youth, and their families to value their cultural origins while accepting the potential advantages of the larger culture. ...
... According to this theory, broad social networks provide access to resources that can help young people to 'get ahead' through ideas, skills, approaches, and goals that they would not otherwise discover. Contextually based social-learning theory (e.g., Blechman, 1992) emphasizes the importance of mentors being 'biculturally competent'-that is, competent in both the culture within individual families and in the larger community of which they are a part. Mentors with these skills are able to assist children, youth, and their families to value their cultural origins while accepting the potential advantages of the larger culture. ...
Generations of Hope serves foster and adoptive children, their adoptive families and older adults through an innovative program that is breaking new ground in the development of caring intergenerational communities. It was created in 1993 as a non-profit social service agency designed to improve the service delivery and policies of the child welfare system; it ended up helping not only foster and adopted children but senior citizens as well. This paper examines critical social issues facing both foster children and senior citizens in the United States and how this program created a neighborhood that combines several generations of kin-like support to meet the needs of these vulnerable groups. We describe how the Generations of Hope model brings together in tangible ways critical shifts in perspective regarding foster care and gerontology. The lessons we have learned speak to research, policy making and practice.
In this chapter, the authors discuss the importance of young peoples’ identity development for the prevention of radicalization. After an exploration of the concept of identity, the relation between identity development and radicalization, is discussed in the context of personal, social and cultural identities. More specifically, an explanation of how identity struggles can lead to receptiveness to radical groups is offered. Then, educational interventions meant to foster positive identity development are discussed. Empirical evidence of their effectiveness is also included.
Natural mentors may play an important role in the lives of adolescents. We interviewed 770 adolescents from a large Midwestern city. Fifty‐two percent reported having a natural mentor. Those with natural mentors were less likely to smoke marijuana or be involved in nonviolent delinquency, and had more positive attitudes toward school. Natural mentors had no apparent effect on anxiety or depression. Using the resiliency theory framework, natural mentors were found to have compensatory but not protective effects on problem behaviors, and both compensatory and protective effects on school attitudes. Direct and indirect (mediated) effects of natural mentors are explored for problem behaviors and school attitudes. The potential importance of natural mentors is supported, and implications for future research are considered.
There is a dearth of information regarding African American males and their service to boys as unrelated, concerned adults. While rites of passage programs provide a strong space for the growth of young Black males to develop, there is a need for more literature on what motivates and how to recruit and retain African American men to mentor. This article discusses central components of traditional mentoring and rites of passage programs and the experiences of a group of African American men in Memphis, Tennessee, who have mentored for an after-school rites of passage project. The authors provide recommendations for recruiting and training African American men to utilize rites of passage activities to promote the healthy development of African American male youth.
The purpose of this study was to adapt, instrument and evaluate a training program of coping skills and prosocial communication, whose goals were to decrease achievement, personal, and home problems. Participants were seven teenagers between the ages of 16 and 21, two men and five women with a homeless history, low achievement and family disfunction. The intervention program considered four programmatic components in the form of exercises: discovery, meeting, established rules, and plan (PAPS). The results obtained from a multiple baseline design through scenarios show a decrease in the behaviors reported by subjects in all three scenarios; however, it is necessary to have collateral measures to confirm those data obtained from teenagers' self-reports.
This chapter contains section titled: Access to Mentoring Relationships Relational Processes Benefits of Mentoring Relationships Gender and Culturally-sensitive Mentor Programs Future Directions References Access to Mentoring Relationships Relational Processes Benefits of Mentoring Relationships Gender and Culturally-sensitive Mentor Programs Future Directions References
The Family Mentoring Program (FMP), which provided approximately 1 year of mentoring for at-risk, 10-year-old Latino children and their parents, offered individual mentoring, group educational sessions for children and parents, and group social/recreational activities. This study examined mothers' perceptions of the parent-child relationship and of family strength as measured by the Parent-Child Relationship Inventory (PCRI) and the Family Hardiness Index (FHI). Analysis focused on factors expected to contribute to variance in the outcome measures. Regression results indicated that involvement in parent group education predicted higher scores on the Support and Communication measures. Compared to the standardized samples used in the development of these measures, mothers, at the beginning of the program, scored lower on six of seven PC RI subscales and on the FHI. By the end of the program, mothers' scores on Support and Limit Setting had improved, no longer differing from the standardized norms. The overall findings suggest that parents of children in mentoring programs need services and parent education and that they can benefit from these. Future research should focus on careful design and evaluation of multifaceted mentoring programs that include parents.
India has seen substantial improvement in access to education nationwide, but there are concerns about the quality of education and consequently, the employability of school and college graduates. Large numbers of India’s youth also face the problem of inequality of opportunity. Families and communities that do not have ‘cultural capital’ (years of schooling, access to resources and information networks) find it a challenge to nurture talent in their children. In this article we discuss one intervention—mentoring—that has the potential to address these two challenges simultaneously. This article reports on an experimental year-long mentoring programme for 20 destitute girls, living in a government institution in south India. Participant experience shows that there is little knowledge of the formal mentoring function in India, and a sense of fear associated with adult–youth relationships. In the mentoring programme, these notions were dispelled as the relationships developed. Mentees recorded a change of attitude in learning English. The life skill exercises helped mentees plan for their future, and in some cases thwart early-marriage pressures. Mentoring functions like providing emotional regulation and collaborative skill-building were demonstrated in mentors helping mentees overcome fear in public speaking, examinations, speech defects, etc. Mentees recorded a change in their identity—they saw themselves as more capable. The relationship offered avenues for authentic companionship and several mentees saw their mentors as role models. These results show potential for formal youth mentoring programmes to have considerable positive impact on India’s youth and enable them to become capable, confident and empowered.
The authors examined who 679 African American ninth-graders from urban environments look up to and how their role model choices relate to substance use, delinquency, academic engagement, and psychological well-being. Male adolescents without male role models and females identifying brothers as role models reported the most problem behavior. Adolescents with paternal male role models had the most positive school outcomes, no differences were found in psychological well-being among adolescents in terms of their male role models. The presence of female role models, in contrast, was associated with psychological well-being such that adolescents with maternal role models reported the least distress. Adolescents without female role models had the lowest grades and most negative school attitudes. These findings remained when parental support, family conflict, and father presence in the household were controlled, suggesting role model effects are separate from parenting effects. Our findings support and expand on the notion that having someone to look up to is critical for African American youths' development.
This study examined the associations among three external variables (Peer Substance Use Before Sex, Peer Number of Children, and Parental Influence and Substance Use Before Sex and History of Pregnancy) identified on the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey and a demographic survey, using Bandura's Social Learning Theory as an interpretive model for understanding these relationships. Participants were 276 African-American females, ages 13 to 18 years, enrolled in two public schools in the Mississippi Delta, with 14% of the sample reporting they had been pregnant. Analysis of variance found that teens with a history of pregnancy were significantly more likely to have a greater number of lifetime sexual partners. Teenagers with a history of pregnancy also were significantly more likely to report peer alcohol use before sex and peer history of pregnancy. Furthermore, their parents had diminished expectancies regarding teenage pregnancy.
Mentor relationships have been identified as contributing to resilience in high-risk youth. Despite their promise, as well as a recent increase in volunteer mentoring programs, our understanding of mentor relationships rests on a base of observational data and very few empirical studies. Literature in several fields is reviewed and synthesized as it bears on mentoring. Although the literature converges on the importance of mentor relationships in shaping and protecting youth, many programmatic and conceptual issues remain unresolved. These issues constitute a compelling research agenda for this emerging field.
This article discusses a mentoring project aimed at preventing youth violence and attributes initial success to principles of community practice. The program was unique in being housed in the community, targeting young Chicano children for long term mentoring, and providing support for the non-English speaking parents. Focus is on three theoretical elements-mentoring, empowerment, and multicultural consciousness-all of which implicitly embody concepts of community. Discussion centers on how these concepts played a role in the day-to-day challenges of implementation and in meeting initial program goals. This article offers insights to those wishing to duplicate this mentoring effort with Chicano or other multicultural clients.
This study investigated the impact of a school-based mentoring program on at-risk students' office referrals, unexcused absences, and school attitude. Students who participated in the mentoring program had statistically significant reductions in office referrals and statistically significant improvements in school attitude. Based on an analysis of mentor interview responses and log entries, mentors were divided into "viewed positively" mentors and "questioned-impact" mentors. Viewed positively mentors reported fewer office referrals, met more consistently with mentees, reported more relaxed mentoring sessions, and shared food and played games more often with their mentees than "questioned-impact" mentors. The results of the study are discussed in terms of the available research on school-based mentoring. In addition, suggestions for future research are provided.
In the career research literature focused on adults, diversely composed mentoring networks are advocated due to their effectiveness in providing a wide range of mentoring functions. This study investigates the composition of informal mentoring networks utilized by low‐income urban adolescent girls with healthcare college and career aspirations. In this study, sixty ethnically diverse students in their third year of secondary school participated in a survey about their future educational and career plans and the persons providing support for their future plans. The number of mentoring sources and the number of contexts from which mentoring was derived were both positively associated with the number of mentoring functions (i.e., receiving both socio‐emotional and instrumental functions, more comprehensive array of instrumental mentoring functions). Results suggest that diversely composed, or multi‐context, informal mentoring networks are effective in supporting adolescents in their educational and career pursuits. Implications for future research and programming that bridge home and school contexts are discussed.
This paper describes a course offered over the past two summers (2000 and 2001) in the Sociology/Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The course brought college students together with system-involved girls for an eight-week mentoring program. The development and a description of the course are presented, along with the rationale for providing this type of relationally-oriented program to girls. Based primarily on analyses of student papers, there is an exploration of the experiences, perceptions, and changes in attitudes and beliefs of the student mentors. The goal of the course was to provide enriching educational experiences for the students and to provide beneficial and often unavailable services to girls involved in the juvenile justice system. This assessment shows that the course was successful in achieving those outcomes and highlights the key components of a positive and productive relationship between mentor and mentee. This process analysis demonstrates the successes and problems and issues faced in the implementation of such a course.
The purpose of this psychometric study was to examine the reliability and validity of the Career Influence Inventory (CII), an instrument designed to assess perceived influences on career development and planning. The CII was administered to 564 undergraduates from several southwestern United States universities. Results of the exploratory factor analysis with an oblique rotation revealed that six constructs comprised the CII: parent, teacher, and friend influences, negative social events, high school academic experiences and self-efficacy, and ethnic-gender expectations. Findings indicate that the negative social events factor should be viewed as an emerging construct in comprehending career development and planning. The Cronbach's alphas for the six factors ranged from .74 to .91. The moderate correlations among most CII factors suggest the dynamic nature of career influences.
Coping—competence theory yields a structural model of the development of persistent aggression in which current challenge encounters determine future life outcomes and competence. Driven by this model, universal, school-based prevention programs would aim in multiple ways to promote prosocial coping among high-risk, resilient, and advantaged youth from kindergarten through high school. Expected benefits of prosocial coping would include: less aggressive behavior, fewer adverse life outcomes (e.g., school dropout, police arrest, teen pregnancy, conduct, mood, and substance-use disorders), and a more competent self-definition and social reputation. Five stages are described that may prove useful in creating prosocial schools and neighborhoods supportive of youth in transition away from antisocial coping and deviant peers.
Mentorship programs, in which volunteers from the community are paired with students, have proven to be a practical solution for students with academic and behavior problems. Youngsters participating in mentoring programs have higher self-esteem, higher grade point averages, better attendance, and fewer suspensions. A mentorship program requires teamwork between the community and the school, yielding favorable results for students and professionals alike. The information presented in this article provides step-by-step guidelines for developing a mentoring program for students with disabilities.
The presence of caring adults in the extended family and unrelated adults, such as neighbors, teachers, youth workers, and clergy, is thought to make a positive contribution to young adolescent development. Many reports mention the importance of those relationships, but there is a sparse empirical literature describing their nature and role in young adolescents' lives. The available literature is reviewed here with respect to (a) identifying the nonparental adults who positively affect adolescents; (b) characterizing the kinds and frequency of contact between adolescents and nonparental adults; and (c) articulating the functions that the relationship serves and specifying the personal characteristics of the nonparental adult. Specifically addressed in this article are the ways in which age and grade, gender ethnicity, and socioeconomic status of the adolescent, and the characteristics of the community, affect adolescents' relationships with nonparental adults.
This study describes the role and importance of music education as intervention for at-risk urban adolescents through participation in performance groups while receiving mentoring. Students' self-perceptions over six domains, including musical competency, were measured by scales administered pretest and posttest. Opinions and attitudes of students were gathered in structured interviews and coded for themes. Results showed a significant increase in the students' self-perception of musical competence. A change from a moderate positive relationship to a low positive relationship between perceived musical competency and global self-worth indicated that musical participation in students' lives was domain-specific, related to global self-worth, but not synonymous with it. Students ranking music as important in their lives increased from 76% to 82% over the course of the study. Interviews resulting in 101 themes provided evidence of the importance and role of music, music education, and the music teacher as mentor in the students' lives.
This study examined whether mentoring influenced children's self‐concept, anxiety, depression, and relationships with parents and peers over an 18‐month period. We examined 31 mentored children (50% female) and a comparison group of 22 nonmentored children (50% female) at the beginning of a mentoring program in the fall of the fourth‐grade year (mean age = 9.67) and again in the spring of the fifth‐grade year (mean age = 11.25). In fourth grade, 53 children completed the Piers‐Harris Children's Self‐Concept Scale, the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the Children's Depression Inventory—Short Form, and the People in My Life questionnaire, and 41 children completed the surveys again in fifth grade. Six fourth‐grade and six fifth‐grade teachers completed the Student Behavior Survey. Paired‐sample t‐test analyses indicated meaningful improvement in only mentored children's self‐concept and anxiety. However, neither mentored nor nonmentored children revealed improvements in depression or relationships. Teacher ratings of mentored children did not suggest behavioral changes in the predicted direction. We discuss these counterintuitive findings, along with suggestions for future research.
Mentoring has most often been used as a tool to assist children in developing their potential or as a means for professionals to advance in the workplace. Mentoring is also gaining in popularity as a component of welfare reform. The focus of the survey research reported in this article is a mentoring program designed to help women avoid or leave the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The mentoring program, operated by a faith-based agency, was one of several welfare innovations funded in Texas with the support of then Governor George W. Bush. Although the majority of mentees who responded to the survey were satisfied with their mentoring experience, a smaller number believed the mentoring relationship helped them leave welfare or get a job. In contrast, mentors were less satisfied with their experience, but most thought they had helped their mentee prepare for employment or find work. The authors conclude that mentoring can be beneficial for some women when provided as part of a package that offers more concrete services.
Examined whether children with both academic and social skill deficiencies have higher levels of peer-nominated and self-ratings of depression than their more competent peers and whether depression levels can distinguish academically skilled children from socially skilled ones. Objective measures of academic and social competence classified 169 3rd–6th grade children as competent (above the median on both measures), incompetent (below on both), academically skilled (above only on academic competence), or socially skilled (above only on social competence). Children completed the Perceived Competence Scale for Children, Children's Depression Inventory, and a peer nomination inventory of depression. Results demonstrate information about academic and social competence best predicted Ss' depression. Peer-nominated and self-rated depression were highest among incompetent Ss and lowest among competent Ss. Peer-nominated happiness was higher among the socially skilled than among the academically skilled. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the relationship between objective measures of childhood competence and behavior problems in 474 2nd–6th graders. Daily classwork measured the academic competence, and peer ratings measured social competence. Median splits formed 4 groups, with competent Ss highest and incompetent Ss lowest on the relatively independent dimensions of academic and social competence. Competent Ss excelled on attitudinal measures of a competent lifestyle and on the Harter Competence (HC) Scales. Teacher ratings on the Behavior Problem Checklist (BPC) attributed fewest problems to competent Ss. Conversely, incompetent Ss achieved the lowest HC and the highest BPC scores. Ss high on social competence and low on academic competence were distinguished by BPC conduct problems and nervousness. Peer nominations of depression on the Peer Nomination Inventory characterized all Ss low on social competence. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Critically examines the "violence breeds violence" hypothesis broadly defined. Organized into seven sections, the literature review includes (a) the abuse breeds abuse hypothesis; (b) reports of small numbers of violent/homicidal offenders; (c) studies examining the relationship of abuse and neglect to delinquency, (d) to violent behavior, and (e) to aggressive behavior in infants and young children; (f) abuse, withdrawal, and self-destructive behavior; and (g) studies of the impact of witnessing or observing violent behavior. A detailed discussion of methodological considerations and shortcomings precedes the review. The author concludes that existing knowledge of the long-term consequences of abusive home environments is limited and suggests that conclusions about the strength of the cycle of violence be tempered by the dearth of convincing empirical evidence. Recommendations are made for further research.
The family interactions of 27 intact families with clinically depressed mothers were compared with those of 25 normal families. Each family had at least one child between the ages of 3–16 years. Spouses in half of the depressed families were maritally distressed. A system of coding interactions was developed, and observations were conducted in each home on 10 separate days. Six categories of nonverbal affective behavior were analyzed. Depressed mothers emitted significantly higher rates of dysphoric affect and lower rates of happy affect than normal mothers. Among depressed families, the mother's dysphoric affect appeared to suppress the family's aggressive affect, whereas the family's aggressive affect appeared to suppress the mother's dysphoric affect. These data suggest that aversive behavior may function to provide brief respites from the aversive behavior of others. The presence of marital discord in depressed families appeared to exacerbate such problematic interaction.
The role of the mother was viewed from the perspective of coercion theory. Within that context, it was assumed that mothers of normal preschool children are exposed to high densities of aversive events. Existing research literature supported these hypotheses and showed that the younger the child the higher the rates. Data were also summarized which showed that mothers' satisfaction with their role may vary as a function of these inputs. Observation data showed that mothers of aggressive children encountered higher rates than mothers of normal children. In normal families the fathers function as social facilitators and resident "guest." Mothers serve as caretakers; and both parents share in child management problems. In distressed families the same roles occur; however, the mother's role is expanded to include that of crisis manager. The culture defines which attack behaviors a child may direct to his mother. Her mere presence is associated with increased likelihood for the occurrence of these responses. Mothers were shown to be more involved in extended coercive interchanges with the problem child. During extended interchanges, the problem child escalated to a maximum intensity very early in a sequence of coercive behaviors. Mothers escalated slowly to a mild aversive level and then withdrew at the earliest possible juncture. With siblings, the problem child's chains were in response to a noxious intrusion; when the problem child escalated in intensity, they quickly followed suit. However, with the mother the problem child's chains seem to constitute an attack rather than a reprisal. It was hypothesized that prolonged experience in aversive systems produces low self-esteem. In that regard, mothers of socially aggressive children would be exposed to higher rates of aversive events than would mothers of stealers. Comparisons were made on the baseline self-reports from the Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory. Mothers of socially aggressive children were significantly higher on the depression scale, with borderline elevations on hysteria and social introversion and lower scores on hypomania. Mothers of children who steal had MMPI profiles which were similar to the classic profiles for adolescent delinquents, that is, elevated scores on psychopathic deviate and hypomanic. Following training and supervision in child management skills, there was a significant decrease in the depression and social introversion scores and an increase in the hypomania scale. These changes were particularly marked for mothers of socially aggressive children.
Is the child reared by one parent at risk for psychological maladjustment? Four decades of research have not provided conclusive information. Design errors include poor control over extraneous natural covariates of family type, particularly socioeconomic status; unrepresentative samples; and invalid dependent measures. Conceptual blind spots include equation of conventional with healthy behavior and failure to anticipate either developmental lag or beneficial effects among children reared by one parent. Should findings of no difference attributable to number of parents and cause of parent absence continue to result from well-controlled studies, the hypothesis of risk among children with one parent will have to be judged without empirical support.
The term "underclass" has been widely used by journalists and by some social scientists but, until recently, has not been
clearly defined or quantified. Most of the recent quantitatively oriented literature on the topic has used a definition that
emphasizes either the persistence ofpoverty or the number ofpeople living in neighborhoods where the incidence ofpoverty or
dysfunctional behavior is high. Conclusions about the size and growth of the underclass are sensitive to the definition chosen,
but most available evidence suggests that it is small but growing.
This document describes the Mentors, Peer Groups, and Incentives (MPI) demonstration project, a model for helping early adolescent underclass males to improve academic performance and reduce the probability of premature fatherhood. A first section discusses the working definition of the underclass as a group where dysfunctional behaviors are common; reasons for underclass growth, including a growing division of men from jobs and families; how higher academic achievement among youth and less teenage pregnancy can reduce the size of the underclass; and reasons for targeting young males. The second section reviews a few concepts in the social psychology of behavioral change to provide a conceptual framework for mentor roles. The third section describes the model, provides examples of mentor activities, and shows how mentors use peer groups and incentives as tools. Full-time mentors would serve proteges as affiliates and intimate older friends, life skills teachers, administrators of behavioral change, and academic advocates. Peer groups are an ideal tool for youth who are bound together by a common experience of rejection by the larger community and whose cultural tradition values group over individual achievement. The model would use peer groups for peer tutoring and cooperative learning. (JB)
Testing a component of a theoretical model which postulates that low levels of communication effectiveness accompany the social and affective problems presented by aggressive children, the study compared the communication skills of a group of aggressive (n = 49) and nonaggressive (n = 49) elementary school children (selected on the basis of teacher ratings) in a structured and cooperative communication task. Based on direct observational measures of communication effectiveness and aggression, and on teacher, peer, and self-rating measures of peer rejection and depressive symptoms, results showed that (a) aggressive children exhibited less effective communication skills and more disruptive communication skills than nonaggressive peers; (b) aggressive children experienced higher levels of peer rejection and depressive symptoms than nonaggressive peers; and (c) group differences in communication effectiveness could not be accounted for by differences in observed aggression and remained significant, even after controlling for differences in peer status and affective functioning. These findings highlight the role that ineffective communication may play in the development and maintenance of aggression and have important theoretical and applied implications, which are briefly discussed. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
For 2 years, eight sites providing behavioral family treatment collected data about demographic characteristics, the type of intervention provided, and the record of treatment attendance, yielding data on 181 families. A stepwise discriminant analysis found four functions which distinguished between locations: family communication training, home token economy, marital intervention, and parent support group, and accounted for 76% of between-locations variance. These functions describe naturally occurring clusters of treatment and family characteristics, suggesting that properties of the family ecology were taken into account when type of behavioral family intervention was selected. A second discriminant analysis contrasted families engaged (74%) and not engaged (26%) in treatment and found that engaged families tended to receive family communication training (often together with other types of intervention) and to have fathers and mothers with high occupational prestige, fathers who worked many hours, and two natural parents. Taken together these results suggest that evaluation of a behavioral family intervention must consider background family characteristics as well as the magnitude of family behavior change.
Scatter, an index of variability of daily written classwork around the child's baseline accuracy mean, was used to identify the most inconsistent and the most stable performance among students in 13 classrooms (grades 2–5). At baseline, inconsistent students differed significantly from stable students on prior identification as educationally handicapped, math and reading classwork consistency and accuracy, and 5 self-, peer-, and teacher-rating variables. Inconsistent students were randomly assigned within classes to experimental (20) and control (20) conditions. Families of the former children wrote and carried out contracts specifying rewards for teacher-notification of a daily mean which equaled or exceeded the child's baseline mean. Intervention brought significant reductions in scatter in the target academic subject and borderline increases in accuracy and selfratings of academic success compared to the control condition. After intervention, only math and reading accuracy and teacher identification of underachievers discriminated between the stable and experimental groups. Consensus between teachers indicated clinically significant improvement in 75% of children in the experimental condition.
Effective family problem solving was studied in 97 families of elementary-school-aged children, with 2 definite-solution tasks--tower building (TWB) and 20 questions (TQ), and 1 indefinite-solution task--plan-something-together (PST). Incentive (for cooperation or competition) and task independence (members worked solo or jointly) were manipulated during TWB and TQ, yielding 4 counterbalanced conditions per task per family. On TQ, solo performance exceeded joint performance; on TWB, competition impaired joint performance. Families effective at problem solving in all conditions of both definite-solution tasks tried more problem-solving strategies during TWB and deliberated longer and reached more satisfactory agreements during PST. Family problem-solving effectiveness was moderately predicted by 2 parents' participation in the study. Parental education, parental occupational prestige, and membership in the family of an academically and socially competent child were weaker predictors. The results indicate that definitions of effective family problem solving that are based on directly observed measures of group interaction are more valid than definitions that rely primarily on family characteristics.
Assigned 69 2nd–6th graders, identified as inconsistent because of extreme variability over baseline in math class work, to a home-note, family problem-solving, or control condition. Teachers scored Ss' math daily and sent home a Good-News Note with Ss in both intervention conditions when their daily means equaled or exceeded their baseline means. Ss in the family problem-solving condition wrote contingency contracts with their families, guided by a problem-solving board game, specifying consequences for receipt of Good-News Notes. Families in the home-note condition were instructed by letter to deliver favorable consequences on receipt of Good-News Notes. Compared to no treatment both forms of intervention significantly reduced class work scatter. Whereas Ss in the control and home-note conditions became less accurate during intervention, Ss in the family problem-solving condition maintained their accuracy. Only Ss in the family problem-solving condition demonstrated generalization to nonreinforced intervention probes. Involvement of the family meant that children produced high quality work even when their classmates' work dropped in quality and that they worked hard even when they expected no reward. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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INTERACT/BLISZ A computer coding system to assess small group r:ommunication
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Process measures in intervention for drug-abusing women Methodological issues in epidemiological, prevention, and treatment research on drug-exposed women and their chil-dren
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Improving the lives and futures of at-risk black male youth: Insights from theoly and progiram experience
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Mothlers: the unacknow 1edg
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Behavioral approwhes to psychological assessment: A comprehensive strategy for the measurement of family interaction
- E A Blechman
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- M J Mcenroe
- M H Ruff
Mectjve communicatim: Enabling Multi-problem families to change
- E A Blechman
A new look at emotions and the family: A model of effective family communication
- E A Blechman
- Blechman E. A
A mentor, peer group, incentive model for helping underclass youth
- R B Mincji
- S Wiener
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Communication skills for aggressive children
- E A Blechman
- J E Dumas
- R J Prinz
Preventive intervention manual for children at risk for conduct problems. Elaine A. Blechman, Department of Psychology
- E A Blechman
- R J Prinz
- J E Dumas
Competent parents, competent children: Behavioral objectives of parent training
- E A Blechman