Purpose: School-based mentoring, one of the most rapidly growing interventions in schools, is intended to improve academic performance by reducing psychosocial barriers to learning. Although mentoring is a relationship-based intervention, little is known about the nature of these relationships, how they develop, or their influence on the vulnerable students they serve. An in-depth, longitudinal study was undertaken to investigate these issues by focusing on relationship tone (the qualities of interpersonal interaction), type (the emphasis of program activities), trend (relationship development over time), and treatment (how student needs are addressed through the relationship).

Methods: Participants included adult volunteer mentors, elementary students, and their primary teachers in three public schools in lower-income urban neighborhoods. Complete data was collected and analyzed from 27 mentoring matches. Baseline information was obtained from mentors, students, and teachers before matches were made. Researchers attended programs weekly to collect observational data on mentor-student interactions. Follow-up data collection included in-depth interviews with students and mentors, and teacher-completed questionnaires. Data analysis employed a pattern-matching approach for multiple case studies (Yin, 1994) that focused on the four dimensions mentioned above.

Results: Results addressing relationship tone are emphasized because this dimension signals directly observed behavior of the matches, and therefore offers the most explicit opportunities for intervention by program facilitators. From inductive within and across-case analysis of matches, four categories of tone emerged and were labeled “tentative” (n=8), “task-oriented” (n=6), “engaged” (n=8), and “disengaged” (n=5). Matches with “tentative” tone demonstrated positive inclinations toward the relationship, but were challenged by ongoing uncertainty interpreting behavioral interactions within the match. “Task-oriented” matches displayed relatively little close interpersonal interaction, and yet felt a sense of purpose through focusing on tasks and projects. “Engaged” matches demonstrated fluid rapport and the capacity to interchange between focus on activity and interpersonal relationship development. The tone of “disengaged” matches was characterized by tension, which at its extreme included unresolved conflicts, mounting frustration, and an unfavorable experience of the relationship itself.

Implications for Practice: Results based on tone suggest four categories of relationships within school-based mentoring programs. Both “task-oriented” and “engaged” matches, although qualitatively different, indicate mutual participant satisfaction. In contrast, relationships demonstrating “tentative” and “disengaged” tone suggest the need for guidance from program staff to facilitate improved relations. Specifically, mentors in “tentative” relationships require assistance in interpreting nonverbal communication from youth, which is often ambiguous and provocative. These matches would also benefit from structured occasions for participants to express their feelings and goals regarding the relationship. Disengaged matches, although rare, necessitate more intensive intervention. In some cases, mentors and youth within these matches should not be recruited due to the severe behavioral and relational difficulties that they pose. However, when such relationships ensue, social workers can use these contextualized findings to inform their intervention at key points in the relationship, as well as their guidance in terminating unproductive relationships in a way that maintains the dignity of both participants and, as appropriate, allows for future program involvement.