Abstract
Formal youth mentoring programs are designed to foster intentional, supportive relationships between adult volunteers and young people with the goal of promoting positive youth development (DuBois & Karcher, 2014; Rhodes, 2005). According to Rhodes’ (2005) conceptual model of youth mentoring, the quality of the mentor-mentee relationship is a central mechanism through which positive youth outcomes are achieved. Relationships characterized by mutual trust, respect, and empathy are particularly important, as these relational qualities mediate improvements in social-emotional, behavioral, and academic domains (Rhodes, 2002; 2005). However, meta-analyses and empirical studies of youth mentoring programs reveal small to moderate positive effects in social-emotional and academic outcomes (DuBois et al., 2011; Raposa et al., 2019). Some have suggested that one way to increase the effects of mentoring is to raise awareness about cultural or identity-related factors that might be influencing the mentor-mentee match. In particular, mentors’ racial or ethnic biases, may undermine the quality of mentoring relationships by manifesting in harmful attitudes and discriminatory behaviors (Albright et al., 2017). Disparities in demographic factors—such as race, socioeconomic status, and gender—between mentors and mentees can intensify these challenges, especially when mentors harbor implicit or explicit stereotypes about the identities their mentees hold (Livstrom, 2020; Spencer, 2007).
Mentors and mentees often differ across various social identities including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (Albright et al., 2017; Garringer et al., 2017; Sánchez, 2005). MENTOR’s national survey data reveal that while over half of mentors identify as White (53%), mentees are more racially diverse, with 33% identifying as Black and 20% as Latino/Hispanic (Garringer et al., 2017). Similarly, Champion (2021) reported that in 2018, 78% of youth in Big Brothers Big Sisters of America identified as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) compared to 32% of mentors. Although these programs often aim to support historically marginalized youth, embedding culturally responsive practices into mentoring may increase the effectiveness of mentoring, especially among mentors who may be unaware of their biases or unprepared to engage across differences (Anderson & Sánchez, 2022). Alarmingly, research by Priest et al. (2018) found that 27% of White adults working with Black youth endorsed negative stereotypes, perceiving them as lazy, violent, or unintelligent. These findings underscore the urgent need for mentoring programs to adopt frameworks that mitigate bias and promote relational equity.
There is growing momentum to incorporate culturally responsive practices into youth mentoring programs—especially those aimed at changing mentors’ harmful attitudes and mitigating implicit bias (Anderson & Sánchez, 2022; Suffrin et al., 2016). A national report by MENTOR (Garringer et al., 2017) revealed that 26% of organizations reported a need for high-quality mentor training, with 16% of programs identifying the need for culturally relevant services.
Cultural humility has emerged as a central framework in these efforts. Cultural humility calls on individuals to examine their own assumptions and actively challenge systemic inequities in interpersonal contexts and is defined as lifelong, reflective practice centered on understanding power, privilege, and cultural identity (Fisher-Borne et al., 2015; Foronda, 2020; Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998). Such training is thought to be essential for minimizing harm to BIPOC youth but also for addressing systemic power imbalances within mentoring relationships. However, research on the implementation and outcomes of cultural humility training in youth mentoring remains limited (Albright et al., 2017).
This three-manuscript dissertation responds to this gap by examining strategies to foster culturally responsive mentoring through the lens of cultural humility. The first study explores the impact of racial and ethnic matching on mentor-mentee relationship quality, with particular attention to implications for BIPOC youth. The second investigates attitudinal predictors of mentors’ engagement in cultural humility training, offering insight into the personal factors that shape participation in equity-focused professional development. The third manuscript presents a scoping review of existing cultural humility trainings, identifying core components and best practices that support sustained self-awareness and responsiveness in mentoring contexts.
Collectively, these papers underscore the need for both systemic and personal commitments to equity in mentoring, emphasizing cultural humility as a foundational approach to enhancing mentor effectiveness and relational quality with diverse youth populations. Together, the three manuscripts presented in this dissertation offer a multidimensional understanding of cultural humility within youth mentoring programs. Each study addresses a distinct but interconnected element of culturally responsive mentorship, ranging from structural factors such as racial/ethnic matching to individual mentor characteristics and broader training practices. The findings contribute to a growing body of literature that calls for a more comprehensive, evidence-based, and equity-focused approach to youth mentoring.
Manuscript I. This study explored whether mentees matched with a mentor of a shared racial-ethnic identity (same-match) reported stronger relationships than mentees in a cross-racial-ethnic match (cross-match). Relationship quality was measured in terms of positive and negative dimensions of the Youth Strength of Relationship Scale (Y-SOR) at were gathered at two time points. A series of two-step hierarchical multiple regression models were used, where step 1 included mentor and mentee age, gender, mentee racial-ethnic identity and Y-SOR positive and negative scores and step 2 added an interaction variable between racial-ethnic match and Y-SOR scores. Results revealed that cross-and same-racial-ethnic matches reported similar relationship quality when controlling for age, gender and baseline scores (ß = -0.06, p = 0.53). Interestingly, we found a small effect (ß = 0.12, p < 0.01) where mentees who shared a racial-ethnic identity and reported more relationship dissatisfaction at baseline was associated with less relationship dissatisfaction at time 2 compared to mentees in cross-racial-ethnic matches. The results of this study suggest that sharing a racial-ethnic identity alone does not predict strong relationships, and suggests future research investigate the role of mentors’ abilities to bridge cultural differences. This manuscript underwent the peer-review process and was published in Education Sciences in 2024.
Manuscript II. In response to null findings of racial-ethnic matching in the first manuscript, the goal of manuscript two is to determine whether mentor attitudes and behaviors are predictive in motivation to attend a training in cultural humility. Ethnocultural empathy and mentors’ abilities to support racial-ethnic identities were identified as attitudes and behaviors that can be enhanced through training (Anderson & Sánchez, 2022). A two-step ordinary least squares regression (OLS) was conducted controlling for participant gender, race, age, compensation cohort, self-efficacy (SE; Anderson et al., 2018) factor scores and ethnocultural empathy (SEE; Wang et al., 2003) factor scores. A secondary research goal was to conduct confirmatory factor analyses to test the factor structure of the ethnocultural empathy subscale, self-efficacy to support racial/ethnic identity and motivation to attend a cultural humility training. Participants included 100 adult volunteer mentors recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) who completed self-report surveys that measured ethnocultural empathy, self-efficacy to provide racial-ethnic identity support, and motivation to attend a training in cultural humility.
Results suggested that mentors’ levels of ethnocultural empathy were predictive of mentors’ motivation to attend a training in cultural humility. Moreover, demographic identities including gender and ethnicity were predictive of mentors’ motivation to attend a cultural humility training, with female and non-Hispanic mentors more likely to attend compared to mentors identifying as male and Hispanic. There were null effects for other predictors including age, race, ethnocultural empathy, and the interaction between ethnocultural empathy and self-efficacy to provide racial/ethnic identity support.
The results suggest strong psychometric properties for the self-efficacy to provide racial/ethnic identity support, motivation to attend a cultural humility training, and ethnocultural empathy scales. The self-efficacy to provide racial/ethnic identity support scale showed excellent model fit for a 6-item scale (χ²(9, 100) = 12.19; p = 0.20; CFI = 0.99 TLI = 0.99 RMSEA = 0.06, SRMR = 0.03). The motivation to attend a cultural humility training scale and initially reported poor model fit. Secondary models were proposed, and demonstrated excellent model fit for a 7-item SEE scale χ²(14, 100) = 12.13, p = 0.60; CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.00, SRMR = 0.03). and 4-item modified motivation scale (χ²(2, 100) = 0.21; p = 0.90; CFI = 0.99, TLI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.00, SRMR = 0.01). Results from the CFAs contribute to existing literature on the SE scale and offer modified scales for the motivate and SEE scales.
Results from this study expand upon previous literature surrounding mentor self-efficacy, empathy, and motivation as proximal predictors of relationship quality, and specifically points to mentor demographic and self-efficacy to provide racial/ethnic identity support as potential predictors of their motivation to attend a cultural humility training (Leyton-Armakan et al., 2012). These results have practical implications for youth mentor training and screening practices, including more targeted training to promote mentors’ self-efficacy to support mentees’ identities. This manuscript was submitted for peer-review into Children and Youth Services Review in 2024 and is awaiting the peer-review process.
Manuscript III. The final manuscript is a scoping review of cultural humility training practices in youth mentoring programs. Given the increased need for mentor training in cultural humility, a review of the literature was warranted to understand how training practices are implemented to help reduce mentors’ racial/ethnic biases when working with mentees with marginalized backgrounds. Cultural humility is a lifelong process of self-learning about one’s cultural beliefs and biases and is postulated to include 5 attributes: self-reflection and critique, supportive interaction, self-awareness, egoless and openness (Foronda, 2020; Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998). This scoping review addresses the following research questions: 1) How are cultural humility training practices tested and described? 2) What outcomes are associated with mentors who participate in a cultural humility training? and 3) What aspects of cultural humility practices are present in trainings?
A literature review was conducted to answer our three research questions. Potential studies for inclusion in the review were identified through ERIC and PsycINFO using Boolean strings (using AND) with the following searches: “youth mentor*” OR “youth mentor* program*” OR mentor* AND “cultural humility” OR “cultural responsive*” OR “cultural competenc*” OR “diversity” OR “social justice” OR “anti-racism” OR equity OR DEI or diversity AND training OR development. The search was limited to articles published between 2000-2024). Eligible studies were included in the review if studies met both criteria: 1) Did the study take place in a formal youth mentoring program in the United States? and 2) Did the article include practices for bridging sociocultural gaps between mentors and mentees? A final inclusion sample of 9 articles was used for analyses.
In response to our research questions, the review of the literature found few studies that implemented cultural humility trainings (n = 6), two of which implemented an RCT design, and three provided recommendations for training practices. A range of study designs were implemented including mixed methods (n = 1), RCTs (n = 2), conceptual articles (n = 1), cross-sectional quantitative (n = 3) and qualitative (n = 2) methods. Studies that implemented an RCT design provided details of the training practices including the training goals, activity type (e.g., lunch and learns, group discussions, role plays) and length of training, while the remaining articles described training activities within the context of the mentoring program. Outcomes associated with cultural humility training practices are limited, but small to large effects were observed in mentors’ cross-cultural competence (ηp² = 0.05 to ηp² = 0.12), self-efficacy to provide racial/ethnic support (η² = 0.8), cultural sensitivity (ηp² = 0.05), and sociopolitical awareness (ηp² = 0.25). Lastly, across the nine articles, we found that almost all articles implemented or recommended training practices that involved mentors to engage in self-reflection and critique activities or included a supportive interaction between mentors and mentees. Surprisingly, we found that no studies included trainings that promoted egoless or openness.
This study offers promising information regarding the current state of mentor training practices as it relates to cultural humility and has implications for future research and training development. Taken together, these findings underscore the need for more rigorous, standardized, and youth-informed research to guide effective and equitable mentoring practices. This manuscript is currently in preparation to submit to a journal.
Conclusion
Collectively, the three manuscripts in this dissertation offer a multidimensional and empirically grounded understanding of how cultural humility can be cultivated within formal youth mentoring programs to support more equitable and effective relationships. Rather than supporting assumptions that racial or ethnic matching alone ensures strong mentor-mentee bonds, findings across the studies emphasize the importance of mentors’ attitudinal readiness, self-efficacy, and empathy as foundational components of culturally responsive practice. In the first study, mentor-mentee racial and ethnic matching did not significantly predict overall relationship quality when controlling for demographic and baseline factors (β = –0.06, p = .53). However, among BIPOC youth who initially reported low relationship satisfaction, same-identity matching was associated with improved relationship quality over time (β = 0.12, p < .01), suggesting that shared identity may serve a reparative function in specific contexts. These findings challenge the overreliance on demographic matching and underscore the importance of mentors’ capacity to bridge cultural differences.
Building on this, the second study identified ethnocultural empathy and self-efficacy to support racial and ethnic identity as predictors of mentors’ motivation to engage in cultural humility training. Female and non-Hispanic mentors were more likely to report training motivation than their male and Hispanic counterparts, suggesting that demographic factors may also influence readiness for equity-focused professional development. Confirmatory factor analyses further supported the psychometric validity of these attitudinal constructs, offering refined measurement tools for future research. The third manuscript, a scoping review of cultural humility training practices in mentoring programs, identified several promising strategies—including self-reflection exercises, structured interpersonal support, and sociopolitical awareness-building—with small to large effect sizes on outcomes such as cultural sensitivity (ηp² = .05), self-efficacy (η² = .80), and sociopolitical awareness (ηp² = .25). However, the review also highlighted notable omissions, particularly the limited inclusion of training components emphasizing egolessness and openness—two core tenets of cultural humility (Foronda, 2020; Tervalon & Murray-García, 1998).
Together, these studies contribute to theoretical, practical, and policy advancements in the mentoring field. Theoretically, the findings expand relational models of mentoring (e.g., Rhodes, 2005) by integrating frameworks of identity, power, and structural inequity. Practically, they offer actionable guidance for mentor recruitment, screening, and training, emphasizing the importance of selecting and developing mentors with the attitudinal capacity to engage across cultural difference. From a policy perspective, the results point to the need for sustained, evidence-based investments in equity-centered training, moving beyond one-time workshops toward continuous mentor learning and development. Cultural humility thus emerges not as a passive or optional trait but as a critical competency that must be actively supported through reflective practice, structured training, and organizational commitment. As mentoring programs serve increasingly diverse youth populations, embedding cultural humility in program design is not only relevant—it is essential.
