Agents of change: Pathways through which mentoring relationships influenceadolescents' academic adjustment

A conceptual model was tested in which the effects of mentoring relationshi ps on adolescents' academic outcomes were hypothesized to be mediated parti ally through improvements in parental relationships. The parameters of the model were compared with those of an alternative, in which improved parenta l relationships were treated as an outcome variable rather than a mediator. The study included 959 young adolescents (M age = 12.25 years), all of who m applied to Big Brothers Big Sisters programs. The adolescents were random ly assigned to either the treatment or control group and administered quest ions at baseline and 18 months later. The hypothesized model provided a sig nificantly better explanation of the data than the alternative. In addition to improvements in parental relationships, mentoring led to reductions in unexcused absences and improvements in perceived scholastic competence. Dir ect effects of mentoring on global self-worth, school value, and grades wer e not detected but were instead mediated through improved parental relation ships and scholastic competence. Implications of the findings for theory an d research are discussed.