Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2018 The Experience of Mentors in a Cross-Age Peer Mentoring Program: Exploring the Helper Therapy Principle Dakari Quimby Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.edu/luc_diss Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons Recommended Citation Quimby, Dakari, "The Experience of Mentors in a Cross-Age Peer Mentoring Program: Exploring the Helper Therapy Principle" (2018).edu/luc_diss/2980 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact ecommons@luc. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.
Copyright © 2017 Dakari Quimby LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO THE EXPERIENCE OF MENTORS IN A CROSS-AGE PEER MENTORING PROGRAM: EXPLORING THE HELPER THERAPY PRINCIPLE A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY BY DAKARI QUIMBY CHICAGO, IL AUGUST 2018 Copyright by Dakari Quimby, 2018 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At this time, I would like to thank Dr. Maryse Richards and Dr. Katherine Tyson McCrea for their academic support and leadership on the larger project from which this dissertation emerges.
Their feedback and assistance has been invaluable in completing this project. Additionally, I would like to thank the other professors on my committee including Dr. Grayson Holmbeck, Dr. Christine Li-Grining, and Dr.
Scott Leon for their assistance throughout this research endeavor. Finally, I would like to thank my village, specifically my friends and family, for their love and support of all my aspirations. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS……………………………………………………….iii LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………….v LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………….viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………….1 Context of Poverty/Trauma………….2 Developmental and Theoretical Frame.24 Social-Emotional Development.28 Aims and Hypotheses………………….63 Sample Size/Effect Size ………………….64 Strengths, Limitations and Future Directions……………………….90 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Reliability, normality, and range statistics of ETV subscales and cohesion measures.
Mean, standard deviations, and correlations for exposure to violence and cohesion variables………………………………………………………………………………. Fit information for latent profile analysis models with 1-4 classes……………………. Average counts of ETV in each setting for overall sample and by class…………. Demographic correlates of latent profiles……….
Mean scores on measures of family, school, and community cohesion for overall sample and across groups…………………………………….……48 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The relationship between mentor perceived strength of relationship and the outcomes as mediated by the helper therapy principle tenets (Model A)……………. The relationship between the helper therapy principle tenets and the outcomes as mediated by the mentor perceived strength of relationship (Model B)…. Path coefficients for the mediating function of the helper therapy principles between mentoring strength of relationship and beliefs about aggression (N = 46)…………….
Path coefficients for the mediating function of the helper therapy principles between mentoring strength of relationship and ethnic identity (N = 46)………………………. Path coefficients for for the mediating function of the helper therapy principles between mentoring strength of relationship and future expectations (N = 45)…………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of the helper therapy principles between mentoring strength of relationship and school connectedness (N = 42)………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-esteem and beliefs about aggression (N = 48)…………………………………….
Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-efficacy and beliefs about aggression (N = 48)……………………………………52 Figure 9. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between attitudes towards youth and beliefs about aggression (N = 48)………………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between feelings of contribution and beliefs about aggression (N = 48)………………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-esteem and ethnic identity (N = 48)……………………………………………….
Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-efficacy and ethnic identity (N = 48)………………………………………………54 vi Figure 13. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between attitudes towards youth and ethnic identity (N = 48)………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between feelings of contribution and ethnic identity (N = 48)…………………………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-esteem and school connectedness (N = 43)……………………………………….
Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-efficacy and school connectedness (N = 44)……………………………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between attitudes towards youth and school connectedness (N = 44)…………………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between feelings of contribution and school connectedness (N = 44)…………………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-esteem and future expectations (N = 46)………………………………………….
Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-efficacy and future expectations (N = 47)…………………………………………58 Figure 21. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between attitudes towards youth and future expectations (N = 47)……………………………. Path coefficients for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between feelings of contribution and future expectations (N = 47)……………………………. Estimated sample sizes for the mediating function of the helper therapy principles between mentoring strength of relationship and school connectedness…………………………65 Figure 24.
Estimated sample sizes for the mediating function of mentoring strength of relationship between self-esteem and future expectations……………………………………….66 vii ABSTRACT Mentoring programs are increasingly popular interventions for promoting positive development in Black youth from high risk environments. Cross-age peer mentoring refers to an older youth serving as a mentor for a younger mentee. Although not as widely studied as adult mentoring, this relationship has been found to have a beneficial effect for both the mentor and mentee. The current study seeks to better illuminate this bidirectional benefit by focusing on one half of the relationship—the experience of cross age peer mentoring by Black American mentors from low income communities.
This is an important untapped area of study as peer mentoring interventions have the potential to have an expansive impact affecting both older and younger youth. The current study examined how the helper therapy principle (a theory stating that individuals who take on a helping role experience positive development due to being in that role) related to mentors’ experience of the mentor-mentee bond. The study also examined whether mentors’ perceived bond with their mentee mediated the relation between the helper therapy principle and the outcomes of future expectations, ethnic identity, school connectedness, and beliefs about aggression. A sample of 48 high school aged mentors (Mage=16.49; 62% female) were recruited from four low income Chicago neighborhoods and completed three waves of data.
In collaboration with non-profit organizations and Chicago Public Schools (CPS), researchers recruited and trained high school students to serve as mentors for middle school students from the same neighborhoods and SES backgrounds. Baseline, six-month check-in, and end-of-intervention (9- viii 12 months) assessments were used to assess the effects of the mentoring. PROCESS bootstrapping mediation analyses revealed several significant findings including that higher feelings of contribution (a desire to positively impact one’s community) led to increased school connectedness (b=0.05) and future expectations (b=0.05) at the end of intervention. However, the small sample size made it difficult to find significance for many of the proposed relations.
Consequently, power analyses were conducted using the Power Analysis and Sample Size (PASS) software to provide a sense of what sample size would be needed to detect significance. Overall, the majority of relations had between small and medium effect sizes (Preacher & Kelley, 2011), suggesting that future studies will require a sample size of around 200 youth to potentially find significance. Although exploratory, the current study has important implications. The cultural capital that exists in communities of color was acknowledged in the current study by harnessing the social capital of Black youth and empowering them to serve as the main agents of change within an intervention.
However, continued exploration of the experience of Black youth mentors and how they may develop due to their role as helpers is needed to better facilitate the strengths of Black youth residing in high risk environments. This is necessary since the current intervention model can be a cost effective, community-based, and self-sustaining mechanism. Developing prosocial relationships with peers may be a way to achieve these dynamics and encourage healthy development among Black American youth from low income, urban communities. vix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Mentoring programs are becoming increasingly prevalent interventions for promoting positive development in youth.
This success has led mentoring to become a popular option for fostering wellbeing among youth from high risk environments. Although effective when their relationships last, adult mentors have had difficulties maintaining their mentoring relationships because of other responsibilities and cultural disconnect. Due to their increased availability and the significant influence of peers among youth, older adolescents serving as cross age peer mentors have been recognized as a viable option to circumvent the issues of adult mentoring relationships. Cross age peer mentoring refers to an older youth serving as a mentor for a younger mentee.
Although not as widely studied as adult mentoring, this relationship has been found to have a beneficial effect for both the mentor and mentee. The current study seeks to better illuminate this bidirectional benefit by focusing on one half of the relationship; the experience of cross age peer mentoring by Black American mentors residing in low income, urban communities. Despite the established reciprocal effects, mentors, particularly Black American mentors from low income, urban environments, have received little attention within the peer mentoring literature. This is an important untapped area of study as peer mentoring interventions have the potential to have an expansive impact by affecting both older and younger youth.
More information is now needed regarding the process of mentoring as it relates to mentors. The current study will examine how the helper therapy principle, a theory explaining 1 2 the positive development experienced by individuals who take on a helping role, relates to mentors’ perception of the mentor-mentee bond over time. The study will also examine whether both of the aforementioned concepts (helper therapy principle and mentor-mentee bond) lead to better outcomes among peer mentors. As the connection between mentor and mentee is considered the foundational component of a mentoring relationship that facilitates growth in key outcome areas, gaining a better understanding of the factors that contribute to or result from this bond can help interventions maximize the benefit for participating peer mentors.
Context of Poverty/Trauma Although a high degree of economic and cultural diversity exists within the Black community, the current sample was chosen because the experience of poverty compounds the experience of oppression and discrimination that is shared with more well-resourced Black youth (Reeves, Rodrigue, & Kneebone, 2016; Williams & Mohammed, 2013). Within the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, one of the four neighborhoods of the current sample, 42.2% of the households (compared to 18.7% of Chicago overall) were below the poverty level, and 21.3% of residents (compared to 11.1% of Chicago overall) were unemployed. The amount of households below the poverty level ranged from 28.2% amongst all four neighborhoods of the current sample. A lower socioeconomic status is related to a variety of adverse outcomes in youth spanning social-emotional, cognitive, and physical domains (Reeves, Rodrigue, & Kneebone, 2016; Williams & Mohammed, 2013).
Although other Black youth face marginalization due to their race, the negative outcomes associated with living in poverty emphasize the necessity of intervention and the importance of connecting positive external forces with Black youth in urban, low income environments. Positive peers may be a particularly necessary force to connect these 3 youth with as, in addition to numerous other stressors, gangs may be prevalent in their communities. When lacking other areas to achieve competence and support, Black American youth in impoverished communities may turn to peers for respect, protection and acceptance (Brittian, 2011).