Measurement of Mentors' Perceived Support and its Relationship to Mentor and Mentee Outcomes

Abstract

This study examined whether peer support, formally integrated into a service-learning mentoring program, was related to psychosocial outcomes for college students serving as youth mentors. The outcomes of interest were college students' ethnocultural empathy as well as their sense of competence, relatedness, and autonomy, the three basic human needs that promote personal wellbeing according to Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Data included selfreport questionnaires completed by college women mentors (n = 227) and college women with (n = 230) and without (n = 105) alternative community service involvement. Our results showed that mentors' level of perceived peer support was associated with stronger outcomes in autonomy as compared to college women with alternative community service involvement and in ethnocultural empathy as compared to both comparison groups. These findings extend the literature on avenues through which college service-learning programs can effectively support participants, particularly as they navigate the cultural challenges of mentoring.