Opportunities await: The impact of school-based mentoring in cultivating youth resources

<p>This qualitative research explores the impact of school-based mentoring (SBM) relationships on youth, focusing on how these connections build social networks and open access to valuable resources. Through in-depth interviews with youth participants, this study examines characteristics that mentors, both within and outside the SBM program, cultivate to help mentees navigate academic and personal challenges. Grounded in social capital theory, the findings reveal how SBM and natural mentoring relationships foster trust, resource sharing, and youth resilience. This research provides practical recommendations to enhance SBM programs and suggests directions for future studies to deepen understanding of the characteristics that make mentoring relationships, both formal and natural, beneficial and supportive for young people.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Leadership and Counseling

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Mager, Tara

Contributors dc:contributor

• Carmen McCallum, PhD,
• David Anderson, PhD
• Patrice Bounds, PhD

• educational leadership
• natural mentors
• qualitative research
• school-based mentoring
• social capital
• youth development

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1297

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2635