Distal and experiential perspectives of relationship quality from mentors, mentees, and program staff in a school-based youth mentoring program

Although youth mentoring pairs are often surrounded by external parties who observe and interact with the dyads on a regular basis, these parties are rarely used as informants regarding the quality of the mentoring relationships; rather, assessments are usually based on mentor or mentee self-reports. This study gathered reports of relationship quality from nine mentor-mentee dyads in a New Zealand school-based mentoring program, as well as reports from the program staff who supervised them. Using a descriptive case study approach that combined multiple methods, this study found that while program staff perceptions of relationship quality converged with mentor and mentee survey results for the most part, there was also divergence across perspectives. The findings suggest that program staff can be a valuable source of information on mentoring relationships, and that obtaining multiple perspectives of relationship quality provides a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of youth mentoring relationships. •Relationship quality assessments from mentors, mentees, and staff generally converged•Program staff provided in-depth assessments of mentoring relationship quality•Distal and experiential perspectives as a framework for understanding relationship quality