Reference List Entry:

Plaskett, Sean, Diksha Bali, Michael J. Nakkula, and John Harris. 2018. "Peer Mentoring to Support First-Generation Low-Income College Students." Phi Delta Kappan 99 (7): 47-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/0031721718767861.

About this Journal Article:

This was an article written for a more general audience and was based on a previous study done by the participants and tried to provide practical implications for the reader. “Indeed, we found that the best matches integrated these two factors, in an approach we call relational instrumentality. That is, the incom­ing students were most successful when their mentors didn’t just help them meet their immediate needs but also bonded with them personally” (48). “Effective mentors build trusting relationships with their mentees and adopt mentee-centric, respectful approaches. This begins with establishing the right kind of match, but it also includes ensuring that the pairs share a strong commitment to the match and engage in activities that promote relational instrumentality” (50). From this they discuss four strategies to help with this: 1) building relationally instrumental matches; 2) fostering trust, 3) mentee-centric mentoring and 4) committing to the process.

Annotation by Eric Hall