Statistics and Research

Research confirms what previously we had known only anecdotally or intuitively. That is, that mentoring works. A recent Research Brief published by Child Trends and titled, "Mentoring: A Promising Strategy for Youth Development," found that youth who participate in mentoring relationships experience a number of positive benefits. In terms of educational achievement, mentored youth have better attendance; a better chance of going on to higher education; and better attitudes towards school. In terms of health and safety, mentoring appears to help prevent substance abuse and reduce some negative youth behaviors. On the social and emotional development front, taking part in mentoring promotes positive social attitudes and relationships. Mentored youth tend to trust their parents more and communicate better with them. They also feel they get more emotional support from their friends than do youth who are not mentored.

Defining The Mentoring Gap

MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership is often asked how we arrived at the figure of 14.6 million young people who need mentors and who comprise what we call our nation's "mentoring gap."

Methodology

To arrive at that figure, we used a formula that takes into consideration Census data, certain youth risk factors and the number of youth already in formal mentoring relationships.

We began with the 2002 US Census, which told us that the United States has 35.2 million young people between the ages of 10 and 18. And while we believe that all youth can benefit from having a caring adult mentor, we also know that some young people, due to life circumstances, could benefit most from a quality mentoring relationship.

Therefore, to determine the number of young people who most need mentors, we turned to youth expert and researcher Joy Dryfoos. Author of the book, Adolescence at Risk, Dryfoos identified a number of factors that put youth especially at risk of not becoming successful adults. Those factors include performing poorly in school and dropping out; engaging in substance abuse, having sex at an early age and engaging in delinquent behavior. Dryfoos then categorized youth by risk status:

Very high risk (10 percent of young people) – young people with multiple problem behaviors who commit serious offenses, drop out of school; use heavy drugs and have sex without contraception, etc.
High risk (15 percent) – youth who participate in two or three problem behaviors but at a slightly lower frequency and with less deleterious consequences;
Moderate risk (25 percent) – youth who tend to experiment in committing minor delinquent offenses, using substances occasionally but not hard drugs, have sexual intercourse with contraception, etc.; and
Low risk (50 percent) – young people who do not commit any serious delinquent acts, do not abuse substances and are not yet sexually active.

Findings

MENTOR determined that youth in the very high-risk category need multiple interventions and that mentoring would not be nearly as effective for them as it would be for youth in the other risk categories. Therefore, MENTOR focuses its efforts on recruiting mentors for those who could most benefit: young people in the high and moderate risk categories, as well as 10 percent of youth considered low risk – a total of 14.6 million youth, or 50 percent of all young people in the U.S.

Finally, using information gleaned from our latest poll, Mentoring in America 2005: A Snapshot of the Current State of Mentoring, we found that 3 million youth currently are in quality formal mentoring relationships. By subtracting that 3 million from the number of youth identified as needing mentors, we found the nation's mentoring gap to be 14.6 million young people.

Next Steps

Finding mentors for 14.6 million children is a tremendous challenge, but one that we are working to close, community by community. And with each new mentoring initiative, with each new collaboration between schools and businesses, we are steadily closing the gap.

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Statistics and Research

Defining The Mentoring Gap

Methodology

Findings

Next Steps