Informal Mentoring, Rural African American Emerging Adults, and Substance Use

Can trained, informal mentors reduce the rates of substance use among rural African Americans making the transition from adolescence to adulthood? Are informal mentor relationships more effective than simply training families to be supportive of these young adults? This study recruited 480 young adults, ages 17 to 22, and their families from 8 relatively poor counties in Georgia that have large African American populations. The investigators randomly assigned families to receive family training only, to receive family training and mentor training, or to a control condition. The seven-week family training involved a series of meetings, each including separate parent and youth sessions followed by joint sessions. The young adults and their families identified informal mentors, such as teachers or clergy, who were trained over a three-week period. Families and youth were assessed pre-intervention and 3, 6, and 18 months after the intervention. Key components of the mentoring relationship were the mentors’ provision of problem-solving support and goal-oriented socialization, which supports emerging adults’ development of self-control, coping mechanisms, and future orientation. Brody and his team found that the mentoring relationships predicted a number of positive youth outcomes, including decreases in substance use, impulsiveness, and problem externalization as well as increases in emotional regulation and coping ability. The greatest predictor of outcome success was the quality of positive interactions between mentors and mentees. Youth reported more supportive relationships with female mentors, but male mentors were more likely to provide goal-oriented socialization. There is preliminary evidence to suggest that youth respond best to mentors of the same gender.