The Mentoring Experiences of College and High School Seniors

The purpose of this study was to examine the mentoring experiences of high school seniors and college seniors. One hundred and one Caucasian ( 49 men and 52 women) and 34 African-American (9 men and 24 women) and 14 Other race (8 men and 6 women) college seniors and high school seniors participated in this study. There were 107 high school senior and 50 college senior participants. The objective of this study was to examine the mentoring experiences of college and high school seniors and their effects on: (a) the educational goals of the participants; (b) the goal facilitating behaviors of seniors; and ( c) self-esteem. Another objective was to look at the effects of gender and race on mentoring experiences. The results indicated there was no significant relationship between mentoring experiences and the educational goals of the college and high school participants. There also was not a significant relationship between mentoring and self-esteem. Relationships were found between mentoring and the goal facilitating behaviors of high school seniors. However, no relationship was found between mentoring and the goal facilitating behaviors of college participants. Additionally, the amount of mentoring experienced by the participants did not differ as a function of the gender and the race of the participant. However, results from additional analyses revealed that male high school students were more likely to report mentoring experiences with male mentors than female high school students. Also male high school students were more likely to report a mentoring experience with Other race mentors than female high school students. African-American students ( college and high school) were more likely to report mentoring experiences with African-American mentors than Caucasian and Other race students. The data collected in this study is serviceable to college and high school communities. This information also provides a resource for African-American, Other race and Caucasian college and high school seniors.