Development and Influence of Mentor-Child Relationships

师子关系的发展与影响

基本信息

批准号：
6757953
负责人：
THOMAS E KELLER
金额：
$ 7.63万
依托单位：
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2003
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2003-07-01 至 2007-06-30
项目状态：
已结题

项目摘要

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Children who demonstrate healthy social and emotional adjustment despite facing environmental risk and adversity are commonly distinguished by reliable support from a caring and competent adult. Non-parental adults who establish enduring, emotionally close relationships with children may play a role in preventing mental health problems and promoting positive development. Several preventive interventions emphasize the development and maintenance of supportive intergenerational relationships. This prospective study will focus on relationships created in a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program to investigate basic interpersonal processes in the development and influence of children's relationships with non-parental adults. Interviews will be conducted with child participants, their patents/guardians, and volunteer mentors prior to the introduction of child and mentor and again ten months after the initiation of the match. The study will evaluate whether the child's attachment security with parent is associated with the child's subsequent pattern of relating to the mentor and the extent to which the child uses the mentoring relationship as a resource. The contribution of the mentor's working model of attachment to the development of the relationship will also be examined. In addition, the study will determine whether the quality of the mentoring relationship is associated with child behavior and mental health, controlling for baseline assessments. Several potential protective mechanisms describing interaction between the mentor-child relationship and the environmental risk will be modeled. For example, the value of a relationship established with a supportive, non-parental adult may depend upon the ways in which a mentoring relationship may have an effect. The influence of the mentoring relationship may be mediated through functional support that the mentor provides to help the child cope with stress. The mentoring relationship also may enhance the child's self-concept and self-efficacy, thereby improving the child's capacity to face adversity. Insights into the interpersonal processes involved in the formation and function of children's relationships with significant non-parental adults should translate into more effective preventive interventions.

描述（由申请人提供）：尽管面临环境风险和逆境，但表现出健康的社交和情感调整的儿童通常会受到有爱心和有能力的成年人的可靠支持。与孩子建立持久的、情感上密切的关系的非父母成年人可以在预防心理健康问题和促进积极发展方面发挥作用。一些预防性干预措施强调发展和维持支持性代际关系。这项前瞻性研究将重点关注“老大哥大姐”辅导计划中建立的关系，以调查儿童与非父母成年人关系发展和影响的基本人际过程。在介绍儿童和导师之前以及比赛开始十个月后，将与儿童参与者、他们的专利/监护人和志愿者导师进行访谈。该研究将评估孩子与父母的依恋安全感是否与孩子随后与导师的关系模式以及孩子利用导师关系作为资源的程度有关。导师的依恋工作模式对关系发展的贡献也将受到审查。此外，该研究还将确定指导关系的质量是否与儿童行为和心理健康相关，并控制基线评估。描述导师与孩子关系和环境风险之间相互作用的几种潜在保护机制将被建模。例如，与支持性的、非父母的成年人建立的关系的价值可能取决于指导关系产生影响的方式。指导关系的影响可以通过指导者提供的帮助孩子应对压力的功能支持来调节。指导关系还可以增强孩子的自我概念和自我效能，从而提高孩子面对逆境的能力。对儿童与重要的非父母成年人关系的形成和功能所涉及的人际过程的洞察应该转化为更有效的预防干预措施。