Mentoring At-risk Adolescent Girls: Listening to 'Little Sisters'

Source:  Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, Volume 16, Issue 2 May 2008 , pages 223 - 234

In order to develop an understanding of mentoring relationships and the impact these relationships might have on the development of high-risk adolescent girls, this qualitative study explored the relationships between six 'Little Sisters' and their 'Big Sister' mentors. The purposefully-selected sample includes women and girls who were actively involved in a formal mentoring relationship for a minimum of three years. Findings suggest that a long-term, nurturing mentoring relationship had a positive impact on the self-efficacy, aspirations, and possible selves of the at-risk adolescent girls.