No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Experiences of Youth Mentoring Through Street Dance
Abstract
There has been limited research regarding the effectiveness of mentoring for at-risk youth in the United Kingdom and none focussing on a dance-based intervention. This study explored experiences of a mentoring through street dance programme. Eight participants (aged 16–18) and their mentor took part in semi-structured interviews which were transcribed verbatim and the data subjected to thematic analysis. Three emergent themes were identified: Relationship with mentor, changes in outlook and coping with emotions. Data indicated that the programme resulted in increased mental wellbeing, desistance from antisocial behaviours, positive future outlook and greater awareness of life opportunities. A trusting, non-hierarchical mentor-mentee relationship was central. Inclusion of mentor narratives was a novel aspect of the study and allowed for insight into how this was achieved. Street dance itself provided a framework for confidence building, social levelling and bonding. Results are discussed in terms of future directions for good practice.
... Pursuing the same line of argument, from youth mentoring, as in the case of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, support and companionship also led to an improvement in emotional and behavioral well-being among the young population (Brady et al. 2017), as well as increased social cohesion and opportunities, a positive aspect of the Street Dance program, a tutoring intervention based on street dance (Gunay and Bacon 2019). ...
... These aspects were also considered effective mechanisms for facilitating desistance (Lenkens et al., 2023). Previous studies also offer insight into how prosocial mentor-mentee relationships can have a positive impact on levels of desistance and can prevent or at the very least reduce the likelihood of involvement in antisocial behaviours (Gunay and Bacon, 2020). Elsewhere, scholars affirm the effectiveness of peer mentoring and make reference to the benefits of a non-hierarchical mentor-mentee trusted relationship, which takes time to nurture, and requires demonstration of a flexible disposition amongst those involved (Creaney at al., 2024;Myles, 2023). ...
The aim of this paper is to explore the development of peer mentorship within Youth Justice, including the value and utilisation of lived experience. Children and young people who have acquired specific experience of system contact can accrue experiential knowledge and become 'experts by experience'. These children and young people are potentially capable of providing unique insights, which include sharing knowledge and experiences of navigating welfare and justice services. This research paper provides in-depth insight from an ongoing study about the experiences of those involved in delivering a peer mentoring scheme within a youth justice context. Data from semi-structured interviews with lived experienced peer mentors and practitioners were analysed using thematic analysis to explore participants' opinions, attitudes and beliefs regarding the design and development of a peer mentoring scheme. The article contributes to a conceptual understanding of the design and delivery of peer mentorship within youth justice.
... The influence of dance extends far beyond mere physical health, permeating various facets of psychological well-being. Evidence robustly suggests that dance not only bolsters mental functioning, self-confidence, and self-esteem but also diminishes feelings of isolation [1,2]. Furthermore, it positively affects stress levels, psychological capital, and self-concept, particularly noted among students with artistic inclinations [3]. ...
Background
Despite the recognized psychological benefits of traditional dance forms, the impact of newer forms, such as pole dancing, on mental well-being and sexual self-concept remains underexplored. This protocol outlines a systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at elucidating the effects of pole dancing, a burgeoning non-pharmacological intervention, on these dimensions of mental health.
Methods
This systematic review was registered in the PROSPERO. We will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Protocol to accomplish the systematic review protocol. This review will systematically search electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, and CNKI, for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the impact of pole dancing on mental well-being and sexual self-concept. Two independent evaluators will screen the literature, extract data, and evaluate study quality and bias. Data synthesis will utilize Stata 14.0 and Revman 5.4, employing random-effects models. The Grading of Recommendations, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system will appraise evidence reliability, with subgroup analysis exploring heterogeneity sources. Publication bias will be assessed through funnel plots and Egger’s regression tests.
Discussion
This review aims to fill the gap in the current literature by providing a comprehensive evaluation of pole dancing’s psychological effects. It is anticipated that this systematic review and meta-analysis will offer valuable insights for health policy and practice, advocating for the inclusion of pole dancing in mental health and sexual well-being interventions.
Trial registration
Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42024529369.
The arts are often assumed to be inclusive because they offer a wider range of media, platforms, processes, and genres than are usually found in other academic subjects. For this reason, the arts often feature in programmes intended to include students on the edges of schooling, or those who have already left formal education. This chapter reports on a national vocational arts education award in England which makes just such claims. The chapter is based on an ethnographic study of sites where the award was taught. These sites range from mainstream high schools to alternative education provision. We used a critical incident approach to interrogate two alternative education projects. One project focused on street dance and another on graffiti. Graffiti art activities, creating artwork using spray cans, is a common practice within alternative education provision. But, as we show, the art form’s rebellious and subcultural image was superseded by engagement in the acquisition of demanding artistic and performative skills. Similar to graffiti art, the second art form, dance offers a space for identity-formation and embodiment through which young people can express themselves, explore ideas, and communicate their experiences. However, this only happened for some members of the group. We draw on three related bodies of literature; the pedagogies of poverty, funds of knowledge and the performative cultures of contemporary formal and informal education to suggest that the arts do not necessarily promote inclusion. We argue that the pedagogies employed with these most economically vulnerable young people were largely exploitative. Students were denied access to the social, political, and historical aspects of the art forms and their rich repertoires of practice, international influences and situated creation. We argue that these critical incidents allow us to understand how an arts curriculum can perpetuate rather than counter injustice.
Since the announcement in 2018 of breakdancing’s inclusion in the 2024 Olympic program in Paris, France, by the International Olympic Committee, there has been a significant increase in qualitative research related to breakdancing. Although standards exist for evaluating qualitative research quality, these standards are not always suitable for breakdancing research. This raises questions about how to evaluate the quality of qualitative research in breakdancing scholarship and how to develop and validate evaluation standards. By following the steps of the evaluation logic, we developed 22 observable behavioral standards and a hypothesized construct map. All observable behavioral standards are divided into three dimensions: (1) writing purpose statement level features; (2) following specific style reference level features; and (3) providing evidence to support the research trustworthiness level features. We then included 30 peer-reviewed qualitative studies in the field of breakdance to conduct the Guttman analysis. In our Guttman chart, we removed 7 standards because they were ambiguous, challenging, or failed to distinguish between levels of research quality in the field. Researchers can use the remaining 15 standards to evaluate the quality of qualitative research in the field of breakdancing. Analysis also reveals the features of both high-quality and low-quality qualitative research within this field. Specifically, high-quality qualitative research is not always a linear process, and breakdance researchers usually develop iterative data collection methods based on emerging phenomena, such as by revisiting participants to gain a deeper understanding of these phenomena. This study is the first of its kind to develop and validate standards for the quality of qualitative research in the field of breakdancing.
Article 40(1) of the CRC requires states parties to treat children in a way that takes into account the desirability of promoting their reintegration in society. As such, reintegration is a fundamental principle of the rights-based approach to children in conflict with the law. Building on Chapter 3 on ‘Prevention’ and Chapter 4 on ‘Diversion and Justice’, this chapter aims to present the evidence around reintegration, highlighting measures that support a child’s desistance from offending. In this regard, it features studies that show how a child in conflict with the law can be exit the justice system and return safely to their families and communities, including following a period of detention. It begins with developing a rights-respecting approach to reintegration. After that, it explores interventions that support positive outcomes for reintegration—such as support for families, peer relationships and the right to rest and leisure, educational rights, healthcare, addressing the needs of discriminated groups and fostering positive relationships—and deprivation of liberty. The research finds that there is significant support for a focus on reintegration at all stages of the justice process in line with the rights-based approach.KeywordsChildren’s rightsChildren in conflict with the lawReintegrationDeprivation of libertySupport
Mentoring is one of the most commonly used interventions to prevent, divert, and remediate youth engaged in, or thought to be at risk for delinquent behavior, school failure, aggression, or other antisocial behavior. In this update we report on a meta‐analytic review of selective and indicated mentoring interventions that have been evaluated for their effects on delinquency outcomes for youth (e.g., arrest or conviction as a delinquent, self‐reported involvement) and key associated outcomes (aggression, drug use, academic functioning).
Of 164 identified studies published between 1970 and 2011, 46 met criteria for inclusion. Mean effects sizes were significant and positive for delinquency and academic functioning with trends (marginal significance level) for aggression and drug use. Effect sizes were modest by Cohen's differentiation. However, there was heterogeneity in effect sizes across studies for each outcome. The obtained patterns of effects suggest mentoring may be valuable for those at‐risk or already involved in delinquency and for associated outcomes. Comparison of study design (randomised control trial (RCT) or quasi‐experimental (QE)) did not show significant differences in effects. Moderator analysis showed larger effects when professional development was the motivation of the mentors for involvement, but not for basis of inclusion of participants (environmental vs. person basis of risk), presence of other interventions, or assessment of quality of fidelity. We also undertook the first systematic evaluation of key processes that seem to define how mentoring may aid youth (e.g. identification/modeling, teaching, emotional support, advocacy) to see if these related to effects.
Based on studies we could code for the presence or absence of each as part of the program effort, analyses found stronger effects when emotional support and advocacy were emphasized. These results suggest mentoring is as effective for high‐risk youth in relation to delinquency as many other preventive and treatment approaches and that emphasis on some theorized key processes may be more valuable than others. However, the collected set of studies is less informative than expected with quite limited specification about what comprised the mentoring program and implementation features. The juxtaposition of popular interest in mentoring and empirical evidence of benefits with the limited reporting of important features of the interventions is seen highlights the importance of more careful and extensive evaluations. Including features to understand testing of selection basis, program organization and features, implementation variations, and theorized processes for effects will greatly improve understanding of this intervention. All are essential to guide effective practice of this popular and very promising approach.
Synopsis
Mentoring is one of the most commonly used interventions to prevent, divert, and remediate youth engaged in, or thought to be at risk for delinquent behavior, school failure, aggression, or other antisocial behavior. In this update we report on a meta‐analytic review of selective and indicated mentoring interventions that have been evaluated for their effects on delinquency outcomes for youth (e.g., arrest or conviction as a delinquent, self‐reported involvement) and key associated outcomes (aggression, drug use, academic functioning). Of 164 identified studies published between 1970 and 2011, 46 met criteria for inclusion. Mean effects sizes were significant and positive for delinquency and academic functioning with trends (marginal significance level) for aggression and drug use. Effect sizes were modest by Cohen's differentiation. However, there was heterogeneity in effect sizes across studies for each outcome. The obtained patterns of effects suggest mentoring may be valuable for those at‐risk or already involved in delinquency and for associated outcomes. Comparison of study design (RCT vs. QE) did not show significant differences in effects. Moderator analysis showed larger effects when professional development was the motivation of the mentors for involvement, but not for basis of inclusion of participants (environmental vs. person basis of risk), presence of other interventions, or assessment of quality of fidelity. We also undertook the first systematic evaluation of key processes that seem to define how mentoring may aid youth (e.g. identification/modeling, teaching, emotional support, advocacy) to see if these related to effects. Based on studies we could code for the presence or absence of each as part of the program effort, analyses found stronger effects when emotional support and advocacy were emphasized. These results suggest mentoring is as effective for high‐risk youth in relation to delinquency as many other preventive and treatment approaches and that emphasis on some theorized key processes may be more valuable than others. However, the collected set of studies is less informative than expected with quite limited specification about what comprised the mentoring program and implementation features. The juxtaposition of popular interest in mentoring and empirical evidence of benefits with the limited reporting of important features of the interventions is seen highlights the importance of more careful and extensive evaluations. Including features to understand testing of selection basis, program organization and features, implementation variations, and theorized processes for effects will greatly improve understanding of this intervention. All are essential to guide effective practice of this popular and very promising approach.
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Mentoring has drawn substantial interest from policymakers, intervention theorists, and those interested in identifying promising and useful evidence‐based approaches to interventions for criminal justice and child welfare outcomes (Grossman & Tierney, 1998; Jekliek et al., 2002). Mentoring is one of the most commonly‐used interventions to prevent, divert, and remediate youth engaged in, or thought to be at risk for, delinquent behavior, school failure, aggression, or other antisocial behavior (DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002, DuBois, Portillo, Rhodes, Silverthorn, & Valentine, 2011). One account lists over 5000 organizations within the United States that use mentoring to promote youth wellbeing and reduce risk (MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, 2006). Definitions of mentoring vary, but there are common elements. For the purpose of this review, mentoring was defined by the following 4 characteristics: 1) interaction between two individuals over an extended period of time, 2) inequality of experience, knowledge, or power between the mentor and mentee (recipient), with the mentor possessing the greater share, 3) the mentee is in a position to imitate and benefit from the knowledge, skill, ability, or experience of the mentor, 4) the absence of the role inequality that typifies other helping relationships and is marked by professional training, certification, or predetermined status differences such as parent‐child or teacher‐student relationships. A total of 46 topic and methodologically eligible studies (out of 164 outcome reports) were identified for inclusion in the meta‐analysis on delinquency and outcomes associated to delinquency: aggression, drug use, and academic achievement.
OBJECTIVES
This systematic review had the following objectives:
• a) To statistically characterize the evidence to date on the effects of mentoring interventions (selective and indicated) for delinquency (e.g. arrest, reported delinquency), and related problems of aggression drug use, school failure.
• b) To attempt to clarify the variation in effects of mentoring related to program organization and delivery, study methodology, and participant characteristics.
• c) To help define mentoring in a more systematic fashion than has occurred to date to, in turn, help clarify how intervention processes suggested as compromising how mentoring has effects and other important considerations for future research..
• d) To inform policy about the value of mentoring and the key features for utility.
SEARCH STRATEGY
This is an update of a review completed 4 years ago. In the original review search we benefitted from the authors of three meta‐analyses on mentoring or related topics (1) DuBois et al. (2002) on mentoring in general, 2) Lipsey and Wilson (1998) on delinquency interventions in general, and 3) Aos et al. (2004) on interventions for delinquency and associated social problems) who provided databases on reports and coding approaches. In addition, we searched various databases including PsychINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts, Criminal Justice Periodicals Index, Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Science Citation Index (SCI), Applied Social Sciences Indexes and Abstracts (ASSIA), MEDLINE, Science Direct, Sociological Abstracts, Dissertation Abstracts, Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effectiveness, and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) and the Social, Psychological, Educational and Criminological Trials Register (SPECTR‐ in original search), the National Research Register (NRR, research in progress), and SIGLE (System for Information on Grey Literature in Europe). Finally, the reference lists of primary studies and reviews in studies identified from the search of electronic resources were scanned for any not‐yet identified studies that were relevant to the systematic review. For this update we searched the same databases (except SPECTR as it no longer existed), surveyed pertinent journals and the reference lists of primary studies and reviews.
SELECTION CRITERIA
• 1. Studies that focused on youth who were at risk for juvenile delinquency or who were currently involved in delinquent behavior. Risk is defined as the presence of individual or ecological characteristics that increase the probability of delinquency in later adolescence or adulthood.
• 2. We included interventions focusing on prevention for those at‐risk (selective interventions) and treatment (indicated interventions) that included mentoring as the intervention or one component of the intervention and at least measured impact of the program. We excluded studies in which the intervention was explicitly psychotherapeutic, behavior modification, or cognitive behavioral training and indicated provision of helping services as part of a professional role.
• 3. We required studies to measure at least one quantitative effect on one of the four outcomes (delinquency, aggression, substance use, academic achievement) in a comparison of mentoring to a control condition. Experimental and high quality quasi‐experimental designs were included.
• 4. The review was limited to studies conducted within the United States or another predominately English‐speaking country and reported in English and to studies reported between 1970 and 2011. We did not have resources for translating reports not reported in English.
DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
All eligible studies were coded using a protocol derived from three related prior meta‐analyses, with 20% double‐coded. The intervention effect for each outcome was standardized using well established methods to calculate an effect size with 95% confidence intervals for each of the four outcomes (if included in that study): delinquency, aggression, drug use and academic achievement. Meta‐analyses were then conducted for each independent study within a given outcome (delinquency, aggression, drug use, and academic achievement). Effect sizes for each study were scaled so that a positive effect indicated a desirable outcome (i.e., lower delinquency, drug use, and aggression or higher academic achievement).
MAIN RESULTS
A total of 164 studies were identified as meeting inclusion criteria as focused on delinquency and mentoring. Of these, 46 met the additional criteria for inclusion in the quantitative analyses. 27 were randomized controlled trials and 19 were quasi‐experimental studies involving non‐random assignment, but with matched comparison groups as was described above. Twenty‐five studies reported delinquency outcomes, 25 reported academic achievement outcomes, 6 reported drug use outcomes, and 7 reported aggression outcomes.
Main effects sizes were positive and statistically significant for all four outcomes. Some studies showed effects that were not significant and a few reported negative effects. For each outcome there was substantial variation in effect size, too. Average effects were larger for delinquency than for other outcomes. When moderation was tested, there was considerable variation in effect sizes of studies that were similar in regard to the presence of a given moderating influence.
We compared effect sizes of those studies that were random assignment experimental designs with those that were quasi‐experimental using meta‐regression and found no evidence of differences in effect sizes. We conducted moderator analyses to determine whether effects found differed by 1) criteria for selecting participants, 2) presence of other components along with the mentoring intervention, 3) motivation of mentors for participation, or 4) assessment of quality or fidelity of implementation of the intervention. We also conducted moderator analyses to test for outcome differences by the presence or absence of four theorized key components of mentoring interventions. The relatively limited information about potential moderating characteristics extractable from many reports and the limited number of reports with extractable information led us to combine effects across all four outcomes to enable adequate power and in combination to our directional expectations for moderators to test significance using a one‐tailed test (p < .05). For these analyses, we averaged effect sizes within a given study if more than one outcome of interest was reported. We also conducted analyses to check for bias in effects due to type of outcome, and found no suggestion of bias.
We found evidence for moderation when professional development was a motive for becoming a mentor. There was also moderation of the effect size when mentoring programs emphasized either of two theorized components: emotional support or advocacy. Effect sizes did not differ by whether or not the program emphasized the other two key components: modeling/identification or teaching, nor by whether other components were used, how risk was defined (environmental versus individual characteristics) or if fidelity/adherence of implementation features were assessed.
REVIEWERS' CONCLUSIONS
This analysis of 46 studies on four outcomes measuring delinquency or closely related outcomes of aggression, drug use, and academic functioning suggests mentoring for high‐risk youth has a modest positive effect for delinquency and academic functioning, with trends suggesting similar benefits for aggression and drug use. Effect sizes varied more for delinquency and academic achievement than for aggression and drug use. We did not find a significant difference in effect size by study design (RA vs. QE) or by whether or not fidelity was assessed. We identified some characteristics that moderated effects that provide additional understanding for further studies and program design. Effects tended to be stronger when professional development was an explicit motive for participation of the mentors. Of four processes theorized as comprising the methods of effects in mentoring, we found evidence for significantly larger effects when emotional support and advocacy were emphasized. Although these findings support viewing mentoring as a useful approach for intervention to lessen delinquency risk or involvement, limited description of content of mentoring programs and substantial variation in what is included as part of mentoring efforts detracts from better understanding about what might account for the benefits. The valuable features and most promising approaches cannot be ascertained with any certainty. In fact, the body of studies is remarkably lacking in description of key features, program design organization, and theorized processes of impact that are typically provided in empirical reports of intervention effects. Our judgment is also that there does not seem to be much progression in quality of details in reports over the time period studied here. Given the popularity of this approach, the promise of benefits should be seen as a strong argument for a concerted effort through quality randomized trials to specify the theoretical and practical components for effective mentoring with high‐risk youth. Concordantly, lacking such features, further trials may not add useful knowledge.
This review was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and considers international
literature concerning the management of young people who have offended. It was produced
to inform youth justice policy and practice. The review focuses on the impact and delivery of
youth justice supervision, programmes and interventions within the community, secure
settings, and during transition into adult justice settings or into mainstream society.
The majority of youth are not meeting the US Department of Health and Human Services physical activity guidelines. Dance is a popular activity, particularly for girls, and has the potential to increase physical activity for many youth. This study investigated physical activity of children and adolescents in 7 dance types: ballet, hip-hop, jazz, Latin-flamenco, Latin-salsa/ballet folklorico, partnered, and tap.
Data were collected in 17 private studios and 4 community centers in San Diego, California. A total of 264 girls from 66 classes participated (n =154 children; n = 110 adolescents). Physical activity was measured with accelerometers, and activity levels during class were calculated.
Participants recorded an average of 17.2 ± 8.9 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (36% of class), but this varied by age and dance type. For children, dance type differences were observed with percent of class in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity ranging from 13.6% (Latin-flamenco) to 57% (hip-hop). For adolescents, there were no differences across dance types. Children were more active than adolescents in all types except ballet. Children and adolescents were more active in private compared with community center classes.
Overall, physical activity in youth dance classes was low; 8% of children and 6% of adolescents met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 30-minute guideline for after-school physical activity during dance. To increase physical activity in dance classes, teaching methods could be employed to increase activity in all types, or emphasis could be placed on greater participation in more active dance types.
Copyright © 2015 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Objective:
To assess the effect of a physical activity (PA) intervention on brain and behavioral indices of executive control in preadolescent children.
Methods:
Two hundred twenty-one children (7-9 years) were randomly assigned to a 9-month afterschool PA program or a wait-list control. In addition to changes in fitness (maximal oxygen consumption), electrical activity in the brain (P3-ERP) and behavioral measures (accuracy, reaction time) of executive control were collected by using tasks that modulated attentional inhibition and cognitive flexibility.
Results:
Fitness improved more among intervention participants from pretest to posttest compared with the wait-list control (1.3 mL/kg per minute, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.3 to 2.4; d = 0.34 for group difference in pre-to-post change score). Intervention participants exhibited greater improvements from pretest to posttest in inhibition (3.2%, 95% CI: 0.0 to 6.5; d = 0.27) and cognitive flexibility (4.8%, 95% CI: 1.1 to 8.4; d = 0.35 for group difference in pre-to-post change score) compared with control. Only the intervention group increased attentional resources from pretest to posttest during tasks requiring increased inhibition (1.4 µV, 95% CI: 0.3 to 2.6; d = 0.34) and cognitive flexibility (1.5 µV, 95% CI: 0.6 to 2.5; d = 0.43). Finally, improvements in brain function on the inhibition task (r = 0.22) and performance on the flexibility task correlated with intervention attendance (r = 0.24).
Conclusions:
The intervention enhanced cognitive performance and brain function during tasks requiring greater executive control. These findings demonstrate a causal effect of a PA program on executive control, and provide support for PA for improving childhood cognition and brain health.
In a number of domains, humans adopt a strategy of systematically reducing and minimizing a codified system of movement. One particularly interesting case is "marking" in dance, wherein the dancer performs an attenuated version of the choreography during rehearsal. This is ostensibly to save the dancer's physical energy, but a number of considerations suggest that it may serve a cognitive function as well. In this study, we tested this embodied-cognitive-load hypothesis by manipulating whether dancers rehearsed by marking or by dancing "full out" and found that performance was superior in the dancers who had marked. This finding indicates that marking confers cognitive benefits during the rehearsal process, and it raises questions regarding the cognitive functions of other movement-reduction systems, such as whispering, gesturing, and subvocalizing. In addition, it has implications for a variety of topics in cognitive science, including embodied cognition and the nascent fields of dance and music cognition.
This study examines youth initiated mentoring (YIM), a new approach to mentoring in which youth nominate mentors from among the non-parental adults within their existing social networks (e.g., teachers, family friends, extended family members). YIM is currently being implemented through the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program (NGYCP), an intensive residential intervention program for youth ages 16-18 who have dropped out or been expelled from high school. This study employed a mixed methods explanatory design, drawing on quantitative data from a national longitudinal evaluation of NGYCP (N = 1,173) and qualitative data from a subsample of participants (N = 30) in the evaluation. Results indicated that more enduring mentoring relationships were associated with increased retention of educational, vocational, and behavioral outcomes 3 years following entry into the study. Qualitative data suggested that, when relationships endured, mentors contributed to improvements in participants' educational and occupational success, quality of relationships with parents, peers, and others, and self-concept by providing social-emotional support, instrumental support, and guidance. Results also revealed that relationships were more likely to endure when youth chose their mentors on their own (rather than receiving help from parents or program staff) and when mentors were of the same race as youth. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet widely used qualitative analytic method within psychology. In this paper, we argue that it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data. We outline what thematic analysis is, locating it in relation to other qualitative analytic methods that search for themes or patterns, and in relation to different epistemological and ontological positions. We then provide clear guidelines to those wanting to start thematic analysis, or conduct it in a more deliberate and rigorous way, and consider potential pitfalls in conducting thematic analysis. Finally, we outline the disadvantages and advantages of thematic analysis. We conclude by advocating thematic analysis as a useful and flexible method for qualitative research in and beyond psychology.
During the past decade, mentoring has proliferated as an intervention strategy for addressing the needs that young people have for adult support and guidance throughout their development. Currently, more than 5,000 mentoring programs serve an estimated three million youths in the United States. Funding and growth imperatives continue to fuel the expansion of programs as well as the diversification of mentoring
approaches and applications. Important questions remain, however, about the effectiveness of these types of interventions and the conditions required to optimize benefits for young people who participate in them. In this article, we use meta-analysis to take stock of the current evidence on the effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth. As a guiding conceptual framework for our analysis, we draw on a developmental model of youth mentoring relationships (Rhodes, 2002, 2005). This model posits an interconnected set of processes (socialemotional, cognitive, identity) through which caring and meaningful relationships with nonparental adults (or older peers) can promote positive developmental trajectories. These processes are presumed to be conditioned by a range of individual, dyadic, programmatic, and contextual variables.
Based on this model and related prior research, we anticipated that we would find evidence for the effectiveness of mentoring as an approach for fostering healthy development among youth. We also expected that effectiveness would vary as a function of differences in both program practices and the
characteristics of participating young people and their mentors. The meta-analysis encompassed 73 independent evaluations of mentoring programs directed toward children and adolescents published over the past decade (1999–2010). Overall, findings support the effectiveness of mentoring for improving outcomes across behavioral, social, emotional, and academic domains of young people’s development. The most common pattern of benefits is for mentored youth to exhibit positive gains on outcome measures while nonmentored youth exhibit declines. It appears then that mentoring as an intervention strategy has the capacity to serve both promotion and prevention aims. Programs also show evidence of being able to affect multiple domains of youth functioning simultaneously and to improve selected outcomes of policy interest (e.g., academic achievement test scores). From a developmental standpoint, benefits of participation in mentoring programs are apparent from early childhood to adolescence and thus not confined to a particular stage of development. Similarly, although programs typically have utilized adult volunteers and focused on cultivating one-to-one relationships, those that have engaged older peers as mentors or used group formats
show comparable levels of effectiveness. Collectively, these findings point toward the flexibility and broad applicability of mentoring as an approach for supporting positive youth development. Several other aspects of our findings, however, underscore a need for caution. These include a failure of evaluations to assess several key outcomes of policy interest (e.g., juvenile offending, obesity prevention) or to determine whether benefits for youth are sustained at later points in their development. More generally, we find that gains on outcome measures for the typical young person in a mentoring program have been modest (equivalent to a difference of 9 percentile points from scores of nonmentored youth on the same measures). This level of impact is within the range of effects observed for other types of interventions for children and adolescents but fails to reflect discernible improvement over the previous generation of mentoring programs (DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002). Variability in program effectiveness, although less pronounced, also continues to be evident even after accounting for methodological differences in studies. In analyzing this variability, we find that programs have been more effective when (a) participating youth have either had preexisting difficulties (including problem behavior specifically) or been exposed to significant levels of environmental risk, (b) evaluation samples have included greater proportions of male youth, (c) there has been a good fit between the educational or occupational backgrounds of mentors and the goals of the program, (d) mentors and youth have been paired based on similarity of interests, and (e) programs have been structured to support mentors in assuming teaching or advocacy roles with youth. These findings suggest that effects may hinge to a noteworthy extent on decisions that are made regarding which youth and mentors to involve in a program and on the care with which mentoring relationships are established and then guided toward specific types of activities. Taking stock of the available evidence leads us to see value
in continued support for youth mentoring programs. The argument for using mentoring as an intervention strategy is particularly strong when there is interest in promoting outcomes across multiple areas of a young person’s development. For investments to yield optimal returns, however, there is a need for policy to be directed toward several critical areas of concern: (a) ensuring adherence to core practices (e.g., screening and training of mentors) that both research and common sense dictate to be essential elements of program quality, (b) facilitating ongoing refinement and strengthening of programs using the available evidence as a guide, and (c) fostering stronger collaborations between practitioners and researchers
as a framework for evidence-driven dissemination and growth within the field. From a research standpoint, to support and inform these efforts there is a pressing need to (a) gauge the impact of mentoring interventions on key outcomes of policy interest and on the outcomes of participating youth at later points in their development; (b) utilize study designs and analyses that are capable of addressing the relative
effectiveness of competing models and practices, the unique contributions of mentoring within more complex, multi-component interventions, and differences in youth responsiveness (including potential harmful effects for some youth); (c) investigate increasingly well-specified models of how different types of
program practices and processes may be instrumental in shaping consequential features of mentoring relationships and ultimately, the realization of particular desired outcomes for youth; and (d) establish a research registry to improve the quality and synthesis of available evidence regarding the effectiveness of
youth mentoring as an intervention strategy.
Mentoring is a flexible approach to youth development that can promote positive outcomes through informal learning. Not all mentoring relationships are beneficial, however, as lower quality mentoring relationships tend to have little effect. A mentor's overall approach to the relationship has been found to influence relationship quality. But what does it take to engage a young person in such a relationship and sustain it over time? In this paper, I draw from the research on psychotherapy and other related literatures to briefly sketch out a working model for the determinants of mentoring relationship quality and then focus in detail on one of these—the contri-butions of the mentor. M entoring has become a popular approach to promoting positive de-velopmental outcomes for youth and mentoring programs have en-joyed exponential growth in recent decades. It is generally believed that mentoring delivered in many different formats and settings can be beneficial to youth of varying ages and evidence for the broad-based effectiveness of men-toring is indeed mounting. Most notably, a recent meta-analysis of evaluations of mentoring programs in the United States found that mentored youth demonstrated positive gains in a wide range of social, emotional, behavioral, and academic out-comes whereas non-mentored youth exhibited declines. Mentoring was also found to be effective across settings and with both children and adolescents (DuBois, Por-tillo, Rhodes, Silverthorn, & Valentine, 2011). These findings support the commonly
In this introductory chapter, we first briefly consider definitions of mentoring as well as the prevalence and scope of current forms of youth mentoring that are addressed in the
Handbook. We then discuss the significance of theory, research, and practice and their interrelationship to the field, drawing on contributions to the
Handbook as illustrations. We conclude by highlighting the need for scholarship to keep pace with the fast-expanding and evolving practice of youth mentoring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The effects of an eight-week instructional program in creative dance/movement on the social competence of low-income preschool children were assessed in this study utilizing a scientifically rigorous design. Forty preschool children from a large Head Start program were randomly assigned to participate in either an experimental dance program or an attention control group. Teachers and parents, blind to the children's group membership, rated children's social competence both before and after the program, using English and Spanish versions of the Social Competence Behavior Evaluation: Preschool Edition. The results revealed significantly greater positive gains over time in the children's social competence and both internalizing and externalizing behavior problems for the experimental group compared with the control group. Small-group creative dance instruction for at-risk preschoolers appears to be an excellent mechanism for enhancing social competence and improving behavior. The implications for early childhood education and intervention are discussed.
This study investigated the specific effects of a dance intervention on the decrease of depression and the increase of vitality and positive affect in 31 psychiatric patients with main or additional diagnosis of depression. Patients participated in one of three conditions: a dance group performing a traditional upbeat circle dance, a group that listened just to the music of the dance (music only), and a group that moved on a home trainer bike (ergometer) up to the same level of arousal as the dance group (movement only). While all three conditions alleviated or stabilized the condition of the patients, results suggest that patients in the dance group profited most from the intervention. They showed significantly less depression than participants in the music group (p < .001) and in the ergometer group (p < .05), and more vitality (p < .05) than participants in the music group on post-test self-report scales immediately after the intervention. Stimulating circle dances can thus have a positive effect on patients with depression and may be recommended for use in dance/movement therapy and other complementary therapies.
The aims of this study were (a) to describe the cardiovascular and metabolic demands and (b) to evaluate the effect of an endurance training on blood lactate (Lac) after street dance (SD). Nine female dancers (15.3 ± 1.2 years old) performed the following procedures, pre and post training: SD choreography (6 min), and 48 h later maximum incremental test (on treadmill) to obtain the lactate threshold (LT). Soon after the SD choreography the Lac and heart rate (HR) were registered. The training consisted of three running sessions per week on a treadmill (30 min, intensity 90 to 100% of LT) during eight weeks. The results showed that in post training, the values of Lac and HR peak immediately after the SD choreography increased significantly (p < 0.05) when compared to the pre training Lac = 8.2 ± 2.4 to 10 ± 2 mmol.L-1 ; HR peak = 179.9 ± 10 to 188.4 ± 5.8 bpm-1). In addition, training improved the LT from 8.4 ± 0.8 to 11.1 ± 1.4 km.h-1. Therefore, we conclude that the SD has high metabolic and cardiovascular demand (~ 90% HR max) and endurance training increases Lac after specific SD choreography.
This paper aims to clarify the characteristic of street dancers seen in the urban space, the spatial characteristic of dance spots, and superintendent of dance spots. Findings are as follows: 1) Street dancers specially demand to the accessibility and concentration of dancers. 2) Through the interview survey, 71 dance spots are found around Tokyo, and found that 21 spots are presently used. Many of them are around station and located beside large scale structures. Dancers prefer the facility circumstance that is similar to dance studio. 3) Street dance is permitted only at 1 spot and tacitly permitted at 8 spots, while dancers are restricted at 3 spots. At the others, they have no management policy yet. However dancers mainly take place where the management is not so strict now, once superintendent recognizes street dance as problematic, street dance may be prohibited soon.
This qualitative longitudinal study focused on adolescent males who were being formally mentored during their transition from a juvenile justice centre to the community. Pre-release, the young men feared being exposed to negative peer influences and uncertainty about the future. In response to this anxiety, the young men valued the mentor as a guide, confidant and “watchdog”. Post-release, the concerns of the young men turned to a sense of disconnection, institutionalisation and difficulties securing employment. Here, the young men required their mentors to be reliable, build confidence and assist with educational and occupational opportunities. The findings both inform our theoretical understanding of mentoring and provide direction for supporting young offenders in the transition back into the community.
There are a lot of criminological theories that state that criminal behavior is more or less likely dependent upon peers and the value placed on shared relationships. This article studies the nature and impact of programs designed to resist forming attachments to undesirable peers and programs designed to create attachments to desirable prosocial models. It summarizes the theoretical beliefs that provide a foundation for the anticipated impact of peer risk and mentoring programs. Next, it provides an overview of peer risk interventions and considers some of the characteristics of these programs. It also discusses the evaluation methods and the limits of programs aimed at peer risk.
Our random assignment evaluation found that this type of mentoring had a significant positive effect on youths ages 10 to 16. Over the 18-month follow-up period, youths participating in Big Brothers Big Sisters Programs were significantly less likely to have started using illegal drugs or alcohol, hit someone, or skipped school. They were also more confident about their school performance and got along better with their families. Mentors were carefully screened, trained, and matched with a youth whom they met, on average, three or four times a month for approximately a year. The program also provides careful professional supervision of these matches.
This study explored whether a hip-hop dance program was associated with improved well-being for adolescents living in a multicultural, socio-economically disadvantaged urban community in Ottawa. Sixty-seven youths between 11 and 16 years of age participated in a 13-week program. A primarily qualitative approach was used to assess perceived impact of this pilot program from the perspective of youth participants, parents, and program personnel. Two independent reviewers analyzed the data using a content and theme analysis. The findings suggested that the community-based intervention was a promising program for the promotion of youth psychological, social, and physical well-being. The adolescents, parents, and/or personnel described benefits across seven main areas, including dancing and related skills, behaviors (e.g., reduced television viewing), physical well-being, psychological well-being, relationships, respect for others and for diversity, and school performance. Implications of this study are discussed in relation to future research and to other programs targeting adolescent health promotion in urban disadvantaged communities.
Despite recent decline in juvenile crime, the formal processing and incarceration of juveniles has increased. Many incarcerated juveniles return to their communities with serious risk and need areas unaddressed, complicating their chances for successful reentry. Juvenile aftercare and/or reentry programs have emerged to address these youths' unique needs and the risk they pose to public safety. This study examined preliminary process and outcome indicators of a unique juvenile offender reentry program, including a strong mentoring component, compared to similar youth not receiving reentry services. The authors examined service delivery, as well as intermediate outcome measures and short-term recidivism outcomes, including time to first new offense and number of new official contacts within 6 months of release. Findings demonstrate that the program was delivered as intended, successfully created intermediate change in participants, and was modestly effective in reducing recidivism likelihood and increasing time to recidivism.
Our random assignment evaluation found that this type of mentonng had a significant positive effect on youths ages 10 to 16. Over the 18-month follow-up pertod, youths participating in Big Brothers Big Sisters Programs were significantly less likely to have started using illegal drugs or alcohol, hit someone, or skipped school. They were also more confident about their school performance and got along better with their families. Mentors were carefully screened, trained, and matched with a youth whom they met, on average, three or four times a month for approximately a year The program also provtdes careful professional supervision of these matches.
Mentoring is the latest in a long line of interventions with disaffected young people that is believed to hold considerable promise. However, the expansion of mentoring schemes in recent years has been based more on faith in what are perceived to be the merits of the approach rather than on robust empirical evidence that mentoring actually brings about the benefits expected of it. This paper reports the results of the largest British study of mentoring to date. Built around a longitudinal survey and depth interviews with programme workers and participants, the research sought to measure the impact of a particular group of mentoring programmes. The evidence from the study suggests that the programmes were particularly successful in increasing young people's involvement in education, training and work, but less successful in reducing offending. This is unsurprising, we argue, given that much of the core content of the programmes centred on education, training and work and contained relatively little activity focused on the avowed aim of reducing offending. Moreover the programmes were generally under-theorised, failing to provide an explicit model of how and why change was to be brought about. The danger for these and similar programmes is that they will be perceived to fail to deliver and, despite their promise, will become the latest 'silver bullet' to be talked up and then cast aside.
To investigate whether dance intervention influenced self-rated health for adolescent girls with internalizing problems.
Randomized controlled intervention trial with follow-up measures at 8, 12, and 20 months after baseline.
A Swedish city with a population of 130 000.
Girls aged 13 to 18 years with internalizing problems, ie, stress and psychosomatic symptoms. A total of 59 girls were randomized to the intervention group and 53 were randomized to the control group.
The intervention comprised dance classes twice weekly during 8 months. Each dance class lasted 75 minutes and the focus was on the joy of movement, not on performance.
Self-rated health was the primary outcome; secondary outcomes were adherence to and experience of the intervention.
The dance intervention group improved their self-rated health more than the control group at all follow-ups. At baseline, the mean score on a 5-point scale was 3.32 for the dance intervention group and 3.75 for the control group. The difference in mean change was 0.30 (95% CI, -0.01 to 0.61) at 8 months, 0.62 (95% CI, 0.25 to 0.99) at 12 months, and 0.40 (95% CI, 0.04 to 0.77) at 20 months. Among the girls in the intervention group, 67% had an attendance rate of 50% to 100%. A total of 91% of the girls rated the dance intervention as a positive experience.
An 8-month dance intervention can improve self-rated health for adolescent girls with internalizing problems. The improvement remained a year after the intervention.
Age differences in future orientation are examined in a sample of 935 individuals between 10 and 30 years using a delay discounting task as well as a new self-report measure. Younger adolescents consistently demonstrate a weaker orientation to the future than do individuals aged 16 and older, as reflected in their greater willingness to accept a smaller reward delivered sooner than a larger one that is delayed, and in their characterizations of themselves as less concerned about the future and less likely to anticipate the consequences of their decisions. Planning ahead, in contrast, continues to develop into young adulthood. Future studies should distinguish between future orientation and impulse control, which may have different neural underpinnings and follow different developmental timetables.
Mentoring Programs and Youth Development: A Synthesis
- S Jekielek
- K A Moore
- E C Hair
Jekielek S, Moore KA and Hair EC (2002) Mentoring Programs and Youth Development: A Synthesis. Washington, DC: Child Trends. Available at: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED465457 (accessed 3 April 2019).
Referring Youth in Juvenile Justice Settings to Mentoring Programs: Effective Strategies and Practices to Improving the Mentoring Experience for At-risk and High Risk Youth. A Resource Compendium. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
- J M Miller
- H V Miller
- J C Barnes
- P A Clark
- M A Jones
- R J Quiros
- S B Peterson
Miller JM, Miller HV, Barnes JC, Clark PA, Jones MA, Quiros RJ and Peterson SB (2012) Referring Youth
in Juvenile Justice Settings to Mentoring Programs: Effective Strategies and Practices to Improving the
Mentoring Experience for At-risk and High Risk Youth. A Resource Compendium. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Available at: http://www.mentoring.org/images/uploads/Journal%20
Article.pdf (accessed 3 April 2019).
Transforming Rehabilitation: A Summary of Evidence on Reducing Reoffending
- Ministry Of Justice
Ministry of Justice (2014) Transforming Rehabilitation: A Summary of Evidence on Reducing Reoffending,
2nd Edition. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/305319/transforming-rehabilitation-evidence-summary-2nd-edition.pdf (accessed
3 April 2019).
The Influence of Mentoring on Re-offending. Stockholm: The Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention
- D Jolliffe
- D Farrington
Jolliffe D and Farrington D (2008) The Influence of Mentoring on Re-offending. Stockholm: The Swedish
National Council for Crime Prevention.
Urban youth street dances go to the movies and become 'breakdancing
- L Stevens
Stevens L (2006) Urban youth street dances go to the movies and become 'breakdancing'. In: Cann KR (ed.)
Youth Justice Statistics 2016-17: England and Wales
- Youth Justice Board
- Ministry
- Justice
Youth Justice Board and Ministry of Justice (2018). Youth Justice Statistics 2016-17: England and Wales.
Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_
data/file/676072/youth_justice_statistics_2016-17.pdf (accessed 3 April 2019).
The transition to adulthood for adolescents in the juvenile justice system: A developmental perspective
- H L Chung
- M Little
- L Steinberg
Chung HL, Little M and Steinberg L (2005) The transition to adulthood for adolescents in the juvenile justice
system: A developmental perspective. In: Osgood DW, Flanagan CA and Foster EM (eds) On Your Own
without a Net: The Transition to Adulthood for Vulnerable Populations. Chicago, IL: The University of
Chicago Press, 68-91.
Mentoring for young offenders: Results from an evaluation of a pilot programme. Paper presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology Crime Prevention Conference
- M Delaney
- C Milne
Delaney M and Milne C (2002) Mentoring for young offenders: Results from an evaluation of a pilot programme. Paper presented at the Australian Institute of Criminology Crime Prevention Conference, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 12-13 September. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.520.22&rep=rep1&type=pdf (accessed 8 April 2019).
Evaluation of the transitional support scheme (TSS): Final report to the Welsh Assembly Government
- M Maguire
- K Holloway
- M Liddle
- F Gordon
- P Gray
- A Smith
- S Wright
Maguire M, Holloway K, Liddle M, Gordon F, Gray P, Smith A and Wright S (2010) Evaluation of the transitional support scheme (TSS): Final report to the Welsh Assembly Government. Available at: https://
wccsj.ac.uk/images/docs/tss-report-en.pdf (accessed 3 April 2019).