Effects of a Ubiquitous Mentoring Program on Self-Esteem, School Adaptation, and Perceived Parental Attitude

Abstract

We examined the impact of a ubiquitous mentoring program on self-esteem, school adaptation flexibility, and perception of parental attitude toward child rearing of elementary students from low socioeconomic status families. We selected 23 elementary-school students whom we had identified as high-risk and each student was paired with a trained mentor for 20 sessions of a mentoring program. Ubiquitous mentoring significantly changed the students' perception of parental attitudes about child rearing and their perception of parents using democratic and authoritative styles of parenting had increased after 20 weeks of mentoring. Social self-esteem rapidly declined from baseline to the 20th week and an increase in family self-esteem was noted on the 20th week of the program. A rapid decline in school adaptation flexibility was noted from baseline to the end of the mentoring program. The data indicate that a ubiquitous mentoring program can serve as a support system for vulnerable children. We found that outcomes were greatly influenced by the length and quality of the mentoring and these factors should be considered as topics for future study.