Award Date

5-2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice

Department

Criminal Justice

First Committee Member

Richard McCorkle, Chair

Second Committee Member

Terry Miethe

Third Committee Member

Jane Gauthier

Graduate Faculty Representative

Kenneth Fernandez

Number of Pages

64

Abstract

Mentoring programs, like Big Brothers/Big Sisters (BBBS), focus on targeting at-risk youth in a preventative effort to increase pro-social behaviors as well as improving one's confidence, competence, and caring. These factors are important as they are indicative of the types of attachment bonds that insulate juveniles from delinquent behavior. Using data from a BBBS located in the Southeast part of the United States, the current study examined whether different groups of juveniles in mentoring programs are considered to be equally successful in promoting feelings of confidence, competence, and caring. Employing a series of one-way ANOVAs, no significant relationships were found between age, sex, race, match length and evaluator's perceptions of successful mentoring outcomes. When examining the composite group of non-White males and confidence, a relationship was found suggesting that mentoring may not have the ability to decrease risk of delinquency among all groups. Limitations and future research suggestions are discussed.

Keywords

Juvenile delinquents - Behavior modification; Mentoring; Problem youth; Role models; Social adjustment

Disciplines

Civic and Community Engagement | Criminology | Race and Ethnicity | Social Work

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Comments

Best copy available

Signatures have been redacted for privacy and security measures.

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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