Research and Statistics

Youth Statistics

• Helping America’s Youth (Facts & Figures)
  The White House
  www.helpingamericasyouth.gov/facts.cfm
• Economic data pertaining to local areas
  Portland State University
  www.economictoolbox.geog.psu.edu/
• KIDS COUNT
  http://www.kidscount.org/datacenter/
  A national and state-by-state project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the status of children in the United States. The annual KIDS COUNT Data Book uses the best available data to measure the educational, social, economic, and physical well-being of children state by state. The Foundation also funds a national network of state-level KIDS COUNT projects that provide a more detailed, county-by-county picture of the condition of children.
• Child Trends
  Social Science research for those who serve children and youth.
  http://www.childtrends.org
  Information on this site includes the latest data for developing, evaluating, and guiding effective programs and research relevant to the overall health and well-being of children and youth.

Research

• The Guide to Key Mentoring Research
  Mentoring Resource Center
  http://www.edmentoring.org/pubs/ws2_supplement1.pdf
  This training supplement offers a great overview of the research that forms the backbone of today's "best practices" in youth mentoring.
• MENTOR Research Corner
  http://www.mentoring.org/access_research/
• One-to-One Mentoring Literature Review (PDF, 208 KB)
  Compiled by Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, March 2007
• The Test of Time: Predictors and Effects of Duration in Youth Mentoring Relationships.
  Jean B. Grossman and Jean E. Rhodes in the American Journal of Community Psychology, Vol. 30, No. 2 (April 2002).
  http://www.springerlink.com/content/bqjgcjy46cr2f6u1/
  Adolescents in relationships that lasted a year or longer reported the largest number of improvements, with progressively fewer effects emerging among youth who were in relationships that terminated earlier. Adolescents who were in relationships that terminated within a very short period of time reported decrements in several indicators of functioning.
• Handbook of Youth Mentoring
  Editors: David L. DuBois and Michael J. Karcher (Sage Publications, 2005)
  This book provides a scholarly and comprehensive synthesis of current theory, research, and practice in the field of youth mentoring. Leading experts in the field offer critical and informative analyses of the full spectrum of topics that are essential to advancing our understanding of the principles for effective mentoring of young people. The handbook focuses on mentoring within and outside formal programs, examining special populations of youth, such as juvenile offenders, pregnant teens, gifted and talented students, abused and neglected youth, and youth with disabilities. It emphasizes the central role of research both as a testing ground for theory and as an essential guide for decision-making in all areas of practice.