uide for Implementing the Comprehensive Strategy for Serious ...

elationship-only experimental group and did not
decrease significantly for the control group. During
the first intervention period, the social approval and
social and material reinforcement experimental
groups had significantly lower truancy rates than the
relationship-only and control groups. Truancy decreased
significantly for the relationship-only group
from the first intervention period to the second intervention
period, when mentors used the social and
material reinforcement intervention. There were no
significant differences among experimental groups in
truancy in the second intervention period, but each
experimental group had significantly lower truancy
rates than the control group. Thus, truancy was
reduced when mentoring relationships included
reinforcement contingent on appropriate behavior,
but not when mentoring relationships did not include
contingent reinforcement. This evaluation was limited
by the short intervention periods, a very small sample
(26 youth), and no information on implementation.
Truancy was reduced when
mentoring relationships included
reinforcement contingent on appropriate
behavior, but not when
mentoring relationships did not
include contingent reinforcement.
Fo and O’Donnell (1975) also evaluated the effects of
the Buddy System mentoring program on a much
larger scale. Participants were multi-ethnic youth in
Hawaii ages 10 to 17 who were referred to the program
by the schools, police, courts, social welfare
agencies, and community residents. This implementation
of the program lasted 1 year. The evaluators used
a true experimental design in which youth were
randomly assigned to the experimental or the nointervention
control group. Youth in the experimental
group with no court-recorded major offenses (e.g.,
auto theft, burglary, assault) in the year prior to the
program were significantly more likely than controls
to have a recorded major offense during the program
year. However, experimental youth with one or
more recorded major offenses in the year before the
program were significantly less likely than controls to
92
have a recorded major offense during the program
year. Thus, the program had no preventive effects
and, in fact, contributed to delinquency in those
youth with no prior records of major offenses. In their
report, the evaluators did not state whether the
relationship-only, contingency, or both forms of the
Buddy System were used in this implementation. The
researchers suggested that the increased delinquency
for experimental youth with no prior offense could
have resulted from associating with other experimental
youth during the program who had previous
offenses. The evaluation did not include any information
on the degree of implementation.
Green (1980) evaluated a Big Brothers program in
Nassau County, New York. The program matched
each volunteer mentor with a different boy. Mentors
met with mentees once a week for at least half a day
and engaged in activities of mutual interest. The program
also sponsored social events and outings for
groups of mentors and mentees. Mentor-mentee
matches were made on the basis of pairs’ similarity
on such characteristics as ethnic background, socioeconomic
status, religion, and interests.
The researcher used a quasi-experimental design to
assess program impacts on predominantly white,
working-class boys from single-parent (father-absent)
families. Experimental boys and their mothers were
interviewed before the intervention and after 6
months of the program. Boys on the program’s waiting
list served as comparisons, and they and their
mothers were interviewed before the intervention and
6 months later as well. Over the course of the program,
there were no significant differences between
experimental and comparison boys in terms of
changes in parent- and boy-rated number of friends,
number of social contexts participated in, relations
with family members, school adaptation, arguments
with teachers, disruptive classroom behavior, or selfesteem.
The researcher’s report did not present information
on the comparability of study groups or the
degree of program implementation.
Stanwyck and Anson (1989) evaluated a mentoring
program for low-achieving high school seniors. Volunteer
mentors were adult members of the business
community. Mentors met with their mentees regularly
and provided social support, encouragement, and
career education advice. Mentors and program