Awards

• Winner of Eleanor Maccoby Book Award 2023 (United States)

Overview

"Youth mentoring programs must change in order to become truly effective. The world's leading expert shows how. Youth mentoring is among the most popular forms of volunteering in the world. But does it work? Does mentoring actually help young people succeed? In Older and Wiser, mentoring expert Jean Rhodes draws on more than thirty years of empirical research to survey the state of the field. Her conclusion is sobering: there is little evidence that most programs-even renowned, trusted, and long-established ones-are effective. But there is also much reason for hope. Mentoring programs, Rhodes writes, do not focus on what young people need. Organizations typically prioritize building emotional bonds between mentors and mentees. But research makes clear that effective programs emphasize the development of specific social, emotional, and intellectual skills. Most mentoring programs are poorly suited to this effort because they rely overwhelmingly on volunteers, who rarely have the training necessary to teach these skills to young people. Moreover, the one-size-fits-all models of major mentoring organizations struggle to deal with the diverse backgrounds of mentees, the psychological effects of poverty on children, and increasingly hard limits to upward mobility in an unequal world. Rhodes doesn't think we should give up on mentoring-far from it. She shows that evidence-based approaches can in fact create meaningful change in young people's lives. She also recommends encouraging ""organic"" mentorship opportunities-in schools, youth sports leagues, and community organizations."

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9780674248076

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Reviews

In this superb book, Rhodes has demonstrated why she is regarded as the foremost authority on youth mentoring in the U.S. and internationally. Her singularly broad and deep knowledge of the science and her unparalleled understanding of the program and policy implications of mentoring research are crystallized magnificently in this important and timely book. Accessible to scholars, practitioners, students, parents, and other caregivers, this book will quickly be seen as a classic.--Richard M. Lerner, Tufts University

Author Information

Jean E. Rhodes is Frank L. Boyden Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She cofounded the European Centre for Evidence-Based Mentoring and is a fellow of the American Psychological Association.

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