Mentoring Vulnerable Youth in One of America’s Most Dangerous Cities: From Violent Streets to University Classrooms
| Author | Laura Napolitano,Michelle Lyttle Storrod,Shelby Tucker,Kristin Curtis,Michelle Meloy |
| DOI | 10.1177/1473225419886931 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
886931YJJ0010.1177/1473225419886931Youth JusticeTucker et al.
research-article2019
Original Article
Youth Justice
2019, Vol. 19(3) 262 –277
Mentoring Vulnerable Youth in
© The Author(s) 2019
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One of America’s Most Dangerous
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https://doi.org/10.1177/1473225419886931
DOI: 10.1177/1473225419886931
journals.sagepub.com/home/yjj
Cities: From Violent Streets to
University Classrooms
Shelby Tucker, Michelle Meloy ,
Laura Napolitano, Michelle Lyttle Storrod
and Kristin Curtis
Abstract
Using rich narratives provided by youth, this research examines the holistic role of mentors in the lives
of young people coming of age in an impoverished and dangerous context (n = 44). Mentees experienced
household adversities (e.g. parental separation, substance abuse, familial incarceration) and community
violence (e.g. neighborhood shootings, gangs, and assaults). Mentors provided emotional support, educational
support, and protection from harm. In addition, youths experienced mentor versatility. Mentors were
perceived as effective in aiding the youths’ resilience and at helping them navigate multiple levels of stressors
and criminogenic conditions.
Keywords
adverse childhood experiences, community violence exposure, mentors, post-secondary attainment,
resilience, youth
Introduction
Studies on educational attainment of youth residing in highly impoverished and strained
neighborhoods have found that lower socioeconomic status, lack of parental educational
achievement, high levels of crime, and ‘unstable households’ (i.e. abuse in the home) often
have negative effects on the educational aspirations and attainment of youth (Ou and
Reynolds, 2008; South et al., 2003). Furthermore, living in disadvantaged neighborhoods is
often associated with lower levels of educational achievement among students, including
less post-secondary attainment, as well as involvement in delinquent/criminal behaviors
Corresponding author:
Michelle Meloy, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, Rutgers University–Camden, 405-407
Cooper Street, Camden, NJ 08102, USA.
Email: mlmeloy@camden.rutgers.edu
Tucker et al.
263
(Levine and Nidiffer, 1996; Ou and Reynolds, 2008; South et al., 2003). However, one
mechanism whereby adolescences may overcome these adversities is with protective fac-
tors, such as mentoring, that can buffer the negative effects and dangers of residing in areas
of disadvantage (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005; Ungar, 2004; Zimmerman et al., 2002,
2013). Toward that end, this study focuses on a subsample of resilient participants with men-
tors that, while experiencing a range of individual adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)
and community violence exposure (CVE) (e.g. gang activity, shootings, assaults, etc.) in
some of the most challenging and crime-ridden neighborhoods in America, were able to
avoid participation in criminal activity and become university students.
Theoretical Framework
Resilience research focuses on the processes associated with overcoming the negative
effects of adverse circumstances and dangerous environments in an individual’s life.
Thus, it is often used as a framework to understand successful adaptation to situations
such as extreme poverty and crime, exposure to community violence, failing schools, and
ACEs (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005; Ungar, 2004). Examples of ACEs include witness-
ing parental divorce, household mental illness, substance abuse, incarceration within the
family, and being a victim of individual abuse and neglect. Research has consistently
noted the deleterious effect of ACEs on a child’s development and successful adaptation
(Sameroff et al., 2003).
What is less understood, however, is how the developmental harm associated with
ACEs might be further exacerbated by the presence of external environmental stress-
ors such as community violence, gangs, and drugs (see Harden et al., 2015, McKenzie-
Mohr et al., 2012; Ungar, 2013; Wade et al., 2016). According to resilience theory,
resilience can be achieved amid troubling circumstances through protective factors
and the formation of coping strategies (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005; Luthar and
Goldstein, 2004; Werner, 1993). When a protective resource – such as effective men-
toring – is available to vulnerable adolescents, this is known as the protective factor
model of resilience (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005; Luthar and Goldstein, 2004; Ungar,
2004; Zimmerman et al., 2002, 2013). The protective model of resilience is theorized
to ‘inoculate’ adolescents against academic failure, criminal behavior, and deviance
(Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005; Luthar and Goldstein, 2004; Ungar, 2004; Zimmerman
et al., 2002, 2013).
Role of Mentoring in Resilience of At-Risk Youth
There is a mounting body of literature that concludes that mentoring of at-risk youth can
be associated with positive social and emotional developments, enhanced academic
accomplishments, and increased self-esteem (Eby et al., 2008; Erickson et al., 2009;
Fruiht and Wray-Lake, 2012; Hurd et al., 2012; Levine and Nidiffer, 1996; Rhodes,
2002; Rhodes and Lowe, 2009; Sanchez et al., 2008; Schwartz et al., 2013; Southwick
et al., 2007; Stanton-Salazar and Spina, 2003; Thompson and Kelly-Vance, 2001;
Zimmerman et al., 2002). Mentoring relationships are also an important part of at-risk
264
Youth Justice 19(3)
adolescents’ desistance and resistance from crime. For example, in several studies vul-
nerable youth with mentors engaged in less deviant and less criminal behavior than their
counterparts without mentors (DuBois and Karcher, 2005; Eby et al., 2008; Erickson
et al., 2009; Southwick et al., 2007; Stanton-Salazar and Spina, 2003; Thompson and
Kelly-Vance, 2001). Furthermore, even when mentors entered the lives of mentees after
the youth’s offending behavior had begun, their mentors were instrumental in redirect-
ing their negative trajectory away from crime and toward more pro-social behaviors.
This change also resulted in higher levels of academic attainment among the redirected
youth (Stanton-Salazar and Spina, 2003).
However, the extant literature suggests that not all mentoring relationships are equally
effective. Naturally occurring mentoring relationships (e.g. formed organically between
youth and adults), for example, tend to fare better than their formal (matched) counter-
parts, perhaps because the parties often come from similar backgrounds and the relation-
ships tend to be longer lasting (Raposa et al., 2018). In at least one study, the average
length of time for a natural mentoring relationship was 9 years (DuBois and Silverthorn,
2005) compared with formal mentoring relationships, which are often over within
12 months (Grossman and Rhodes, 2002). Formal (matched) mentors can be valuable to a
youth and are most likely to be effective when the pair have a high-quality relationship,
have common interests, and the relationship occurs over an extended period of time
(DuBois et al., 2011; Fruiht and Wray-Lake, 2012). In sum, previous research indicates
that under the right conditions, mentors can be a protective factor for vulnerable adoles-
cents. In addition, organic mentoring relationships do not necessarily require external
resources and thus might offer unique opportunities to assist youth in areas where resources
are hard to come by.
Current Study and Setting
We investigate the roles of mentors in the lives of young people who achieved academic
success and resistance from crime despite growing up in adverse household and commu-
nity conditions. In particular, we focus attention on respondents’ perceptions of mentoring
and its perceived impact on their resilience. A qualitative investigation into resilience
strategies and processes is an essential tool to augment the extant quantitative conclusions
on resilience and helps to ‘fill in the gaps’ about how individuals successfully adapt within
high-risk urban environments (see Forrest-Bank et al., 2014).
The respondents in this study came of age in a northeastern US city. Like many
urban locals across the United States, the research site has confronted many of the
challenges of similarly situated cities including limited employment opportunity, and
a lack of investment in the skills of residents (Wilson, 1987, 1996). Nearly half of the
city residents identify as Latino and slightly over 40 percent are African American (US
Census Bureau, 2015a). All census tracts within the city have poverty indicators that
exceed national US averages, and the city has consistently ranked among the poorest
in the United States over the last 40 years. Slightly under 40 percent of the city’s resi-
dents fall at or below the poverty line, including half of the city’s children (US Census
Bureau, 2015b).
Tucker et al.
265
According to Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) voluntary Uniform Crime
Reporting (UCR) Statistics, and city level crime data, the rates of crime and violence in
this city are among the highest in the United States. The research team geocoded the loca-
tion of violent and property crimes to provide an objective context to the crime and vio-
lence discussed by the participants. The results of the crime mapping revealed that all
census tracts within the city limits have violent crime rates and property crime rates that
are significantly higher than the US national average. For instance, in 2013 the city’s vio-
lent crime rate across census tracts ranged from a ‘low’ of 1066.9...
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