How Economic Disadvantage Affects the Availability and Nature of Mentoring Relationships During the Transition to Adulthood

Abstract

Supportive nonparental adults, particularly nonfamilial adults, provide critical support during the transition to adulthood, opening doors to educational and career paths. This study examined whether economic disadvantage shapes access to these relationships. Results showed that low-income adolescents had reduced access to naturally occurring mentors, and the relationships they did form tended to be close bonds with family and friends, rather than nonfamilial adults. Their mentors were more likely to focus on practical support, and less likely to serve as role models or provide career advice. These effects of socioeconomic status on natural mentoring relationships remained evident, even when accounting for youth race/ethnicity. Findings suggest that networks of support differ depending on a youth's socioeconomic context in ways that could perpetuate social and economic inequalities.

Keywords: Add Health; Longitudinal; Mentoring; Poverty.

Figure 1

Figure 1 presents the respondents’ average predicted probabilities of reporting having a natural mentor for the sample range of values for annual family income, receiving public assistance, and neighborhood poverty. The relationship between income and the probability of having a natural mentor is slightly curvilinear, with the probability of having a mentor increasing at a lower rate at higher values of income. Respondents whose parents reported receiving public assistance were less likely to report having a natural mentor. Neighborhood poverty was negatively related to having a natural mentor, with those in non-poverty neighborhoods reporting mentors about 70 percent of the time and those in neighborhoods characterized by 80 percent poverty reporting mentors about 50 percent of the time. Note: Predictions based on model in Table 3 Model variables other than those on the x-axis were respondents’ reported values Neighborhood Poverty is proportion in poverty in Census block Source: National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health