Factors That Enhance the Quality of Relationships Between Mentors and Mentees During Check & Connect - Article

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man

School engagement predicts graduation, and mentoring is one strategy to strengthen it. Check & Connect is a structured mentoring program with favorable outcomes for students, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders, but its impact depends on the mentor–mentee relationship quality. The study examined 166 high school mentees and their mentors, finding generally favorable relationship ratings and moderate correlations. Mentor and mentee demographics were not significant predictors; discussion topics linked to family and friends for mentors and school and future plans for mentees were significant.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background: school engagement, dropout risk, and connectedness

Mentoring as an intervention and overview of Check & Connect

Prior evidence on program outcomes

Mixed findings from other implementations

Factors That Enhance the Quality of Relationships Between Mentors and Mentees During Check & Connect Lee Kern, PhD 1, Judith R. Harrison, PhD2, Beth E. Custer, MEd 1, and Paras D. Mehta, PhD3 Behavioral Disorders 2019, Vol. 44(3) 148–161 © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2018 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/0198742918779791](DOI: 10.1177/0198742918779791)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/0198742918779791)[journals.sagepub.com/home/bhd](journals.sagepub.com/home/bhd) Abstract School engagement is an important predictor of graduation. One strategy to enhance student engagement is mentoring. Check & Connect is a structured mentoring program that has resulted in favorable outcomes for many students, including those with emotional and behavioral disorders. Effectiveness, however, depends on the quality of the mentor– mentee relationship. Although research has examined factors that increase relationship effectiveness, findings have been inconsistent. We explored the perceptions and correspondence of 166 high school students (i.e., mentees) with social, emotional, and/or behavioral challenges and their mentors about the mentoring relationship and variables that contribute to relationship quality. Results indicated that mentors and mentees rated the relationship favorably and their ratings correlated moderately. Mentor and mentee variables examined (gender, ethnicity/race, age) were not significant predictors of relationship quality; however, specific topics discussed during mentoring sessions for mentors (family, friends) and mentees (school, future plans) were significantly related to their perceptions of relationship quality. Keywords adolescent, challenging behavior, relationships, mentoring High school dropout is a significant concern for many reasons. Compared with high school graduates, students who do not complete high school have lower overall lifetime earnings (Day & Newburger, 2002), higher rates of unemployment and incarceration (Pleis, Ward, & Lucas, 2010), and area greater cost to society (Alliance for Excellence in Education, 2007) . Research indicates that students with emotional and behavioral problems, including those identified with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), are particularly vulnerable to dropping out. Specifically, among all disability groups, dropout is highest for students with EBD (Bradley, Doolittle, & Bartolotta, 2008) . Furthermore, students with EBD have significantly higher rates of detentions, suspensions, and expulsions compared with students who have other disabilities and their peers without disabilities (J. A. Anderson, Kutash, & Duchnowski, 2001; Krezmien, Leone,& Achilles, 2006). The presence of these precursors to dropout suggests that students with emotional and behavioral problems are disengaged from school (Hayling, Cook, Gresham, State, & Kern, 2008; Hirn & Scott, 2014) . An important factor consistently found to mitigate disengagement and dropout is school connectedness or belonging (Nasir, Jones, & McLaughlin, 2011), a construct characterized by students believing that adults in schools value them not only as students but also as individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009) . Research has demonstrated that when students feel cared about and connected to adults in their school community, they perform better academically (Anderman, 2002) and are less likely to drop out prior to graduation (Catalano, Haggerty, Oesterle, Fleming, & Hawkins, 2004) . One approach to increase a sense of belonging among students is mentoring. A variety of mentoring programs have been described in the literature (for a review, see DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002) . Check & Connect (C&C; Christenson, Sinclair, Thurlow, & Evelo, 1999; Sinclair, Christenson, Evelo, & Hurley, 1998) is a structured school-based mentoring program designed to increase school enga

FAQs

What does the study identify as a key determinant of mentoring effectiveness?

Effectiveness depends on the quality of the mentor–mentee relationship, not just on program structure.

How did mentor and mentee demographics relate to relationship quality?

Gender, ethnicity/race, and age were not significant predictors of relationship quality.

Which mentoring discussion topics were associated with relationship quality perceptions?

Mentors’ discussions about family and friends, and mentees’ discussions about school and future plans, were significantly related to perceptions of relationship quality.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man