Natural Mentoring Relationships and the Adjustment to College among Underrepresented Students

Abstract

This study investigated associations between natural mentoring relationships and academic performance via psychological distress among underrepresented college students attending an elite predominantly White institution (PWI). Specifically, this study explored whether the quantity of natural mentors possessed upon college entry, the retention of natural mentors across the first year of college, and overall changes in the number of natural mentors possessed during the first year of college predicted improvements in students' semester grade point averages (GPAs) via reductions in psychological distress. Participants in this study included 336 first-year undergraduate students attending a selective PWI. Students were eligible to participate in this study if they were first-generation college students, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, or students from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups. Results of this study indicated that a greater number of retained natural mentoring relationships across the first year of college were associated with improvements in students' GPAs via reductions in symptoms of depression from the Fall to Spring semester. The results of this study suggest that institutional efforts to support the maintenance of preexisting mentoring relationships may be an effective approach to promoting the academic success of underrepresented college students during the first year of college.

Predictors of natural mentoring relationships and students’ adjustment to college

“…Perhaps the NMRs outside of the college context are as or more influential during the college transition relative to NMRs on campus. Further, we limited the number of reported mentors to three because of the survey length, but students may have had more mentors as found in Hurd et al () research on underrepresented college students who were able to report up to six natural mentors. Our study might not have captured the extent of new mentoring relationships that students develop when they transition to college, and perhaps there would have been an even stronger association among the number of NMRs, help‐seeking behaviors, and social adjustment.…”

Trends in Volunteer Mentoring in the United States: Analysis of a Decade of Census Survey Data

“…Nevertheless, there is growing evidence that naturally occurring relationships with caring non‐parental adults, or natural mentoring relationships, are also vital for youth development and well‐being. Youth who can identify at least one natural mentor within their social networks have improved resilience across a range of important academic, vocational, behavioral, and health domains (e.g., Erickson, McDonald, & Elder, ; Hurd, Tan, & Loeb, ; McDonald & Lambert, ; Miranda‐Chan, Fruiht, Dubon, & Wray‐Lake, ). Natural mentoring relationships address some of the difficulties encountered by formal mentoring programs.…”

“…Natural mentoring relationships are more prevalent and reach far more youth than formal mentoring programs, with approximately 75% to 80% of youth endorsing such a relationship (McDonald, Erickson, Johnson, & Elder, ). Moreover, because these supportive relationships emerge from youth's existing social networks, natural mentors are often more similar to youth with respect to ethnicity and socioeconomic background (Hurd et al., ), and the relationships may be more enduring than formal mentoring relationships. Future research should therefore examine the ways in which the reach of formal mentoring programs can be broadened by programs designed to encourage the formation of natural mentoring relationships (Schwartz & Rhodes, ).…”

Natural Mentors, Social Class, and College Success

“…Other programs that address working‐class student retention should be considered, as should the importance of the institutional setting and the social networks students acquire on campus (McCabe, ; Stuber, ). To appreciably narrow social class gaps in college completion, a multipronged institutional effort is more likely to have an impact than natural mentors, although one part of that institutional effort should be spent helping college students maintain contact with the mentors that encouraged and inspired them to seek a postsecondary degree (Hurd, Tan & Loeb, ).…”