A Randomized Trial of a Mentoring Program for High Risk Children

辅导被广泛认为是一种有效的预防性干预措施，可以解决各种青年问题， 后果，包括行为失常和少年犯罪、学业不及格和辍学， 药物使用和滥用，过早的性行为和青少年父母。近年来， 地方、州和联邦各级决策者对指导方案的大力支持。虽然 已经有各种关于指导的结果研究，指导似乎至少有小的，积极的， 从短期来看，对年轻人的影响，对“高风险”项目的长期影响知之甚少。 孩子们被认为最需要指导，几乎没有人知道他们的特点和 辅导关系的质量与青年的成果有关。我们建议进行纵向调查 随机对照预防性干预试验，旨在评估一个既定的， 私人资助的长期密集的青年辅导计划，称为儿童之友（FOTC）。友小组 与市中心的公立学校合作，确定并招收被认为处于高中阶段的10岁以下儿童， 行为障碍，学业失败和青少年父母的风险，由于严重的水平和/或组合 个人和家庭风险因素。FOTC导师，被称为“朋友”，是有报酬的全职员工， 严格训练和监督。朋友们一次不超过8个孩子。通过FOTC， 儿童接触到各种技能建设和娱乐经验，并协助获得 在各个领域，包括学术和身心健康服务的资源。与会者 该研究（N = 256; 80%少数民族，50%女孩）将通过位于 波士顿、弗朗西斯科、西雅图和俄勒冈州的波特兰的贫民区。孩子将被 随机分配到FOTC或转诊控制条件。儿童及其主要照顾者，以及 朋友将在幼儿园开始计划之前进行评估，并在随后的每一年进行评估 直到三年级结束将每年对小学教师进行评估;直接观察 将进行幼儿社会互动，并收集学校和FOTC项目记录。在 每次评估，将收集有关儿童行为，情绪和学业适应的信息， 以及儿童-同伴、儿童-照顾者、儿童-朋友和儿童-他人关系的质量和特点 成人（即，自然导师）关系。分析将检查儿童随时间的结果; 亲子关系质量对项目满意度、参与度和持久性以及儿童 结果;以及基于种族，儿童性别和基线风险状态的差异有效性。的 这项研究的结果将对指导做法和政策产生重要影响。

Mentoring is widely viewed as an effective preventive intervention for a variety of youth problems and consequences, including conduct disorder and delinquency, academic failure and school dropout, substance use and abuse, and early sexual behavior and teen parenthood. In recent years, there has been strong support for mentoring programs from policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels. While there have been a variety of outcome studies on mentoring, and mentoring appears to have at least small, positive effects on youth in the short run,little is known about the long term influence of programs on the "high risk" children assumed to need mentoring the most, and almost nothing is known about how characteristics and qualities of the mentoring relationship are related to youth outcomes. We propose to conduct a longitudinal randomized controlled preventive intervention trial designed to assess the impacts of an established, privately funded, long term, intensive youth mentoring program called Friends of the Children (FOTC). FOTC partners with inner city public schools to identify and enroll kindergarten-age children thought to be at high risk for conduct disorder, academic failure, and teen parenthood due to serious levels and/or combinations of individual and family risk factors. FOTC mentors, called "Friends", are paid, full time employees who are rigorously trained and supervised. Friends work with not more than eight children at a time. Through FOTC, children are exposed to a variety of skill building and recreational experiences and assisted in accessing resources in a variety of areas, including academic and physical and mental health services. Participants for the study (N = 256; 80% minority, 50% girls) will be recruited through existing programs located within impoverished, inner city areas of Boston; San Francisco; Seattle; and Portland, Oregon. Children will be randomly assigned to either FOTC or a referral control condition. Children, their primary caregivers, and Friends will be assessed prior to program initiation in kindergarten, and during each subsequent year through the end of third grade. On an annual basis, primary teachers will be assessed; direct observations of Friend-child social interaction will be conducted; and school and FOTC program records will be collected. At each assessment, information will be collected on child behavioral, emotional, and academic adjustment, as well as on the quality and characteristics of child-peer, child-caregiver relations, child-Friend, and child-other adult (i.e., natural mentor) relationships. Analyses will examine child outcomes overtime; the impact of Friend-child relationship quality on program satisfaction, engagement, and persistence as well as on child outcomes; and differential effectiveness based on ethnicity, child gender, and baseline risk status. The findings from this study will have important implications for mentoring practice and policy.