Peer-reviewed article
Duration of Mentoring Relationship Predicts Child Well-Being: Evidence from a Danish Community-Based Mentoring Program
Anna Piil Damm, Emma von Essen, Astrid Jæger Jensen, Freja Kerrn-Jespersen, Sarah B. van Mastrigt ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined how long children stay in a community mentoring program and whether this affects their well-being in Denmark. Researchers surveyed parents of 197 children in Denmark's largest youth mentoring program and compared those with mentors to children waiting to join. Children who had a mentor for at least one year showed significantly better well-being according to their parents, but children with mentors for less than a year did not differ from those on a waiting list.
Key points
- Children with mentors for at least one year had significantly higher perceived well-being compared to children on a waiting list
- No significant well-being differences were found between children with mentors for less than one year and children waiting to join
- A minimum mentoring relationship duration of one year appears important for promoting well-being in Nordic welfare contexts
- This is among the first evidence of community mentoring effects in a Nordic country, where youth generally have lower risk profiles than in previous North American studies
- Parental perception was used as the measure of child well-being
Limitations
The study relies on parental perceptions of well-being rather than direct measurement of children's outcomes, and it is unclear whether the waiting list served as an adequate comparison group or whether there were other confounding factors affecting the results. The study does not provide information about specific dimensions of well-being or long-term outcomes beyond the measurement period.
Abstract
While a substantial body of literature suggests that lasting community mentoring relationships can have a range of positive effects on youths, little is known about these effects in the Nordic welfare context, where community mentees may have lower risk profiles compared to many previous samples. This study explores how the duration (length) of child mentoring relationships predicts parental perceptions of child well-being among 197 children served by Denmark's most extensive community-based youth mentoring program. We find that children who have had a mentor for at least one year are perceived to have significantly higher well-being. In contrast, we find no significant differences in well-being between children who had mentors for less than one year and children on a waiting list. Previous research, conducted in primarily North American contexts, finds that longer mentoring relationships substantially improve school behavior and reduce risk taking. Our results add to the literature by indicating that a minimum mentoring relationship duration of one year appears to be similarly important in promoting well-being for youths involved in community-based mentoring programs in a Nordic welfare context.