Predictors of Natural Mentor Relationships Among Former Foster Youth

Background: Research suggests that social connections and social capital influence many young-adult outcomes, including emotional adjustment, education, and employment. Unlike other youth, however, former foster youths' ties to their families, peers, and communities may be severely attenuated by the experiences of maltreatment and placement in foster care. Based on research that suggests that the presence of at least one close adult relationship moderates the negative impacts of early adversity, child welfare agencies have been making increasing efforts to help foster youth identify and develop supportive natural mentor relationships. However, there is little, if any, empirical evidence concerning the respective associations between the characteristics and circumstances of former foster youth and the prevalence and nature of mentoring relationships. Nevertheless, a fuller understanding of these associations could help agencies to better identify and serve foster youth who may be less likely to develop natural mentor relationships. The current study uses data from a longitudinal survey of former foster youth to examine the predictors of several related dimensions of natural mentor relationships among former foster youth, including frequency of contact with mentors, emotional closeness, and relatedness to the foster youth

Methods: The study sample includes 686 youth who were in foster care at the age of 17 in three Midwestern states. Data were collected using five panel surveys administered approximately every 21 months through the age of 26. These surveys contained questions about youths' demographic characteristics, maltreatment and substitute care histories, and relationships with relatives, significant others, and natural mentors. Mixed-effect growth models were used to examine the relationships among youth characteristics and mentoring dimensions.

Finding: Results from the mixed-effect models suggest there are substantive differences in the nature of mentoring relationships across foster youth characteristics. For example, several characteristics -- including youths' age, attachment insecurity, and placement history -- are found to be significantly associated with closeness to mentors. Interestingly, some characteristics exhibit dissimilar relationships vis-à-vis different dimensions of mentoring. For example, while race is not found to be associated with closeness or frequency of contact with mentors, it is found to significantly predict the relatedness between mentors and youth: compared to white youth, African American youth are less likely to nominate friends, and more likely to nominate service providers, as their primary mentors. Conversely, while insecure attachment is found to be negatively associated with closeness to mentors, it is not found to be significantly associated with relatedness between mentors and youth. Finally, although the number of prior placements and runaway episodes are not found to be associated with closeness or frequency of contact with mentors, they are found to be significantly associated with relatedness of mentors.

Implications: The findings underscore that the prevalence and quality of natural mentoring relationships is a function of a variety of factors. Some of these, including a youth's level of insecure attachment and prior substitute care history, may affect a youth's ability to develop and maintain mentoring relationships. Others, including race, may be associated with differences in the availability of different types of potential mentors.