psychological factors that have been or may be associated with aggressive and violent

behavior in early adolescents.

 Research Aims

 Aims of this study were to

 S Explore the presence of reported natural mentors in the lives of adolescents,
 define the quality of these relationships, and describe the general characteristics
 of these mentors.

 S Evaluate the relationship between the presence of a mentor and the mental health
 functioning of the mentee.

* Evaluate the relationship between the presence of a quality mentoring relationship
 and the mental health functioning of the mentee.

* Examine the relationship between the ethnic identity of the adolescent and his or
 her mental health functioning.

 S Evaluate the potential moderating effect of an ethnic mentor on the relationship
 between ethnic identity of the mentee and his or her mental health functioning.

 Research Hypotheses

 Related hypotheses include

 Those adolescents who have natural mentors will have better mental health
 functioning than those that do not have a mentor.

 There is a relationship between ethnic identity and mental health functioning in
 minority adolescents.

 The presence of ethnically matched mentor moderates the relationship between
 ethnic identity and mental health outcomes in minority adolescents.

 Procedures

Setting

 The larger school violence study will, when concluded, include data from

approximately 25 public middle schools in four states (Florida, Texas, California, and

New Jersey). This study includes data from 14 schools in four counties, and two states