Resumen de Negotiating relational boundaries in adult-adolescent mentoring relationships

Kristi Wasson Barrowclough, Cindy H. White

• This study explored communication processes between adult mentors and adolescent mentees as they negotiate their roles and enact a mentoring partnership. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with mentoring pairs (10 adolescents, 10 adults) in a community mentoring program. Findings indicated two key communication issues in these relationships: defining relational boundaries, and negotiating tension around freedom and control within the partnership. The study revealed that defining the relationship and establishing boundaries must occur not only within the mentoring dyad but also with the familial network of the mentees. Additionally, an important, ongoing tension in these relationships involved freedom and control as partners managed the intergenerational nature of the relationship, which made them 'friends' but not equals. These findings indicate that in order to understand communication within adolescent mentoring relationships we need to consider the unique intergenerational nature of this relationship and the influence of familial relationships on interaction between mentors and mentees.