"It opened my mind, my eyes. It was good." Supporting College Students' Navigation of Difference in a Youth Mentoring Program

This paper uses a mixed-methods approach to investigate how the Young Women Leaders Program, a mentoring program for at-risk adolescent girls, supports mentor commitment, prejudice reduction, and increased understanding and acceptance of diversity among the undergraduates serving as mentors. The results suggest that particular mentoring program components can enhance college students' mentoring commitment and provide them with opportunities for interactions across boundaries of difference, leading to multiple benefits.