In summary, it is possible that some adolescent-mentor relationships have more

of an attachment component, while others serve more of the role-modeling function. It is

also likely that the two functions of mentors may be inextricably linked. In other words,

for a mentor to have social influence on an adolescent, there must be an affectional bond

present. In this study, these two functions of the mentor-mentee relationship are not

differentiated. The presence of mentors in the lives of adolescents was assessed. In

addition, the emotionally supportive aspects of these relationships and the amount of

influence adolescents believe the mentor has over their life decisions and behaviors were

measured.

Ethnic Mentors

 An additional characteristic of the adolescent-mentor relationship that this study

examined was the ethnic match of the mentor and the mentee. The theoretical

frameworks described above have not specifically addressed this concept. However,

social learning theory and social identity theory can be applied to the concept of an

"ethnic role model" (Brown, 1998, p. 170) and/or an ethnic mentor (the latter term is

used in this study). That is, the ethnic match of a mentor may facilitate vicarious learning

and may provide a sense of commonality that allows for easier attachment.

 Mentoring programs for at-risk adolescents typically attempt to ethnically match

mentors and mentees; however, this is not necessarily theoretically or empirically

grounded. Ethnic matching has been studied in other areas. For example, research has

demonstrated that ethnically matching adoptive parents and children can enhance ethnic

identity for Hispanic adolescents (Andujo, 1988). However, the ethnic identity of

adolescents matched with mentors that have the same ethnic background has not been

extensively studied. An additional goal of this project was to assess the potentially