Community-Based Mentoring Programs: Influence on Adolescents’ Social Capital and Social Competence

Abstract

According to the research, community mentoring programs can influence an adolescent’s social skills, academics, and social mobility. Part of the reason for this is that community-based mentoring programs can provide training and understanding of how adolescents can address situations they may encounter. In addition, community mentoring programs can provide adolescents with access to social capital that has the potential to influence them as they begin transitioning out of school and into the workforce. This study examined how community-based mentoring programs influences an adolescent’s social capital and social competence. Data collected came from three community mentoring programs, one from each region in New Jersey, where individual interviews with the program directors and focus group interviews with the adolescents of those programs occurred. The findings from this study can reinforce and add to the existing research on community mentoring programs and their influence on adolescents who enroll. Data from this research can support developing mentoring programs in communities that are culturally responsive to the needs of the population they serve. The study found that adolescents’ social skills, self-awareness, decision-making, networking, and social mobility were infuenced by their enrollment in the community mentoring program.