Mentoring is one of the most commonly used interventions to prevent, divert, and remediate youth engaged in, or thought to be at risk for delinquent behaviour, school failure, aggression, or other antisocial behaviour.
A recently published C2 Review examines the evidence to date on the effects of mentoring interventions (preventative and treatment) for delinquency, aggression, drug use, and school failure.
The findings from the review suggest that mentoring has a positive effect on the above outcomes. However, the review team, led by Patrick Tolan, found that the available literature was limited in describing the actual program activities. They were therefore unable to draw clear conclusions regarding what makes mentoring effective. The authors suggest that this drawback points to the critical need for concerted efforts for substantial and large-scale evaluations.