Date of Award

Summer 2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Samuel McQuillin

Second Advisor

Daniel Cooper

Abstract

Youth are experiencing increased mental health challenges due to the parallel increase in loneliness and social isolation. Mentorship has emerged as a potential solution to reduce social isolation and provide support, guidance, and encouragement to young people. The context of the mentoring relationship positively impacts adolescent lives by promoting a safe, stable, nurturing relationship (SSNR) to reinforce the intrinsic motivation to connect with others. However, many young people lack these relationships despite indicating that there were times when they wanted one (Garringer & Banning, 2023). Access to mentorship is influenced by factors such as racial or ethnic background, socioeconomic status (SES), and geographic location (Putnam, 2015, p. 214). This study aimed to identify the characteristics of Generation Z individuals who desired a mentor but lacked one. The nationally representative random sample (N=2,639) "Who Mentored You?" data set was used to conduct a Latent Class Analysis to examine factors such as SES, race and ethnicity, sexuality, and geographic location with the outcome of a binary variable that represented individuals who wanted a mentor at some point in their childhood but did not have one (i.e., a mentoring gap). Results from a 5-class model showed that participant characteristics were generally poor predictors of a mentoring gap, yet there were striking differences in some classes indicating that participant characteristics might be poor selection criteria for mentoring outreach efforts, and more importantly we should focus efforts on eliciting help-seeking behavior from children and their families to more efficiently identify individuals who want a mentor but do not have one.

Rights

© 2025, Kenzie Delposen

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