Who Mentored You?
A study examining the role mentors have played in the lives of
Americans over the last half-century
Who Mentored You? is an expansive research report on the mentoring movement in the United States. Utilizing data from over 2,600 Americans, the study offers a fresh multigenerational look at the mentoring experiences of all Americans and explores the questions:
- What is the scope and impact of mentoring relationships?
- Who is finding the mentoring they need?
- Who is being left behind?
MENTOR started trying to answer these questions almost a decade ago with the 2014 publication of The Mentoring Effect, a study that revealed not only the benefits of mentors, but also the inequities in who gets mentoring—this is where we first defined the “mentoring gap” of one in three young people growing up without a mentor.
Who Mentored You? was commissioned by MENTOR, with support from EY, and created in partnership with the Custom Insights Team at Pacific Market Research (now Olympic Research and Strategy), Dr. Sam McQuillin of the University of South Carolina, Shaun Glaze and Kathleen Perez at Inclusive Data, Cecilia Molinari, and Jenni Geiser. Designed to reexamine the mentoring gap, this report found that, while today’s young people are more than twice as likely to be mentored through a program compared to young people thirty years ago, the mentoring gap still exists and has actually grown larger, particularly for key groups of vulnerable youth.
The study also reaffirmed the importance of mentoring relationships in promoting a strong sense of self and feelings of belonging, building community, encouraging exploration, and driving mental and physical well-being. Given the proven effectiveness of mentoring, we must turn up our impact as individuals and a movement to bring mentoring to all young people.
Thanks to Our Funder. The authors would like to thank EY for their generous support of this project and of the mentoring movement writ large. We couldn’t do this insightful work without your investment and thought leadership.
Youth With a Mentor Are:
92%
more likely to volunteer regularly in their communities.
75%
more likely to have held a leadership position in a club or sports team.
22%
more likely to have experienced a strong sense of belonging while growing up.
74%
of those who had a meaningful mentor say that person contributed significantly to their success later in life.
85%
of young people with a mentor say this key relationship has helped them with issues related to school and their education.
58%
of young people say their mentor has supported their mental health.
60%
of those under 40 years old are still drawing advice from their childhood mentors.
Key Takeaways:
The overall trend over the last 3 decades shows that, across generations, Americans are reporting major increases in youth mentoring relationships.
Unfortunately, recent years have seen an uptick in the number of youth reporting that they had no mentor at all while growing up.
Even those who grew up with mentors remember times when they wanted more mentoring, painting a sobering picture of unmet needs.
Americans attribute much of their success in life to their mentors.
Americans’ “most meaningful” mentors supported them in a variety of ways – personally, academically, professionally among others.
Paths Forward:
In order to reverse the trend of a growing mentoring gap, our movement needs all hands-on-deck to offer greater support today’s youth and young adults.
- You can make a difference by becoming a mentor today! Visit MENTOR’s Mentoring Connector to explore mentoring opportunities in your area.
We must foster a “mentoring mindset” in as many American adults as possible.
- Check out Becoming A Better Mentor: Strategies to Be There for Young People to learn how, by attuning to and centering the needs of youth, individuals can provide quality relationships that elevate our country’s young people.
Supporting youth belonging and identity should increasingly be emphasized in mentoring relationships.
- To learn how you, as a mentor, can help youth cultivate strong feelings of identity and belonging, explore MENTOR’s Critical Mentoring Supplement to the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™.
We must further identify and support those who are least likely to find meaningful relationships and take steps to ensure that our movement intentionally engages these young people.