Making Mathematics: Statistics About the Benefits of Mentoring

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The studies cited below illustrate the influence mentoring can have on young people. Mentoring gives students a head start to a successful life.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America

A 1995 Impact Study showed that young people with mentors were:

46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs
27% less likely to begin using alcohol
53% less likely to skip school
37% less likely to skip a class
33% less likely to hit someone, than children in the research control groups

Louis Harris

A 1989 Poll showed that:

73% of students said their mentors helped raise their goals and expectations
59% of mentored students improved their grades

Proctor & Gamble

A 1988 study on their mentoring programs in Cincinnati schools showed that young people with mentors were more likely to:

Stay in school
Attend classes
Achieve and aspire to better grades
Go on to college

The Quantum Opportunities Program

Funded by the Ford Foundation (1989-1991), this program showed that high school students from families receiving public assistance who had a mentor were more likely than those who did not to:

Graduate from high school
Enroll in college
Have fewer children
Less likely to receive food stamps or welfare
Have fewer arrests
Become involved in community service
Be hopeful about their future

Linking Lifetimes

A 1994 study from the Center for Intergenerational Learning at Temple University revealed that young people who had older mentors (average age of 65) showed improvement in:

School-related behavior
Self-confidence
Personal skills

Translations of mathematical formulas for web display were created by tex4ht.