“But…. They Don’t Look Like Me.” An Examination of Mentoring Relationships with Hispanic and Latinx Students

The guiding objectives of this research were to more deeply understand Hispanic and Latinx students’ attitudes about research mentoring relationships and clarify conflicting findings within the existing literature. Study 1 focused on 32 Hispanic and Latinx undergraduate students who had experience with STEM research mentoring. A major goal was to examine whether racial-ethnic “match” between students and their mentors was associated with the types of behaviors that students encounter from their mentors (e.g., instrumental mentoring) as well as students’ academic attitudes (e.g., STEM self-efficacy). Findings revealed that students have a stronger preference for mentors who share their personality traits over those who match other sociodemographic characteristics, including ethnic and racial background, gender, and age. Study 2, which used a mixed-methods design, focused on 108 Hispanic and Latinx undergraduate students who had experience with STEM research mentoring. A major goal was to explore their perspectives on how mentors should approach research mentoring relationships with Hispanic and Latinx students. We also examined whether the type of reasoning undergraduates provided was associated with the strength of their psychological identification with their ethnic group. Findings indicated that the strength of participants' ethnic identity was not associated with their reasoning. In addition, findings revealed five overarching themes. Of particular interest was the culturally aware theme, which highlighted the importance of mentors acknowledging the unique difficulties that Hispanic and Latinx students experience in navigating their academic system (e.g., language barriers, being first-generation college students, and unhealthy cultural norms within their ethnic-racial group). The findings from this research provide new insight into what Hispanic and Latinx students seek in their research mentoring relationships. The findings also underscore the significance of mentors adopting culturally sensitive mentoring styles and shed light on intriguing directions for future research.