Mentors as Friends 149are numerous professional settings where informal mentoring occurs. A study com-
paring formal and informal mentoring for novice teachers reported that teachers
interacted more with their informal mentor than their formal mentor, and rated
their informal mentors more highly on knowledge of teaching and mentoring abili-
ties than their formal mentors (DeSimone et al., 2014). However, similar to the
findings about peer mentoring described earlier, the researchers found that for-
mal mentors were more likely to initiate conversations and to focus on work per-
formance. Thus, informal mentors provided more psychosocial support and less
career support— which places these relationships close to friendships. Universities
are another context where professional mentoring is expected. Junior faculty in a
Canadian medical school reported that they preferred mentors who were similar to
them in age (Steele et al., 2012). A study of informal and formal mentoring in high
tech firms and educational settings found that informal mentors provided more psy-
chosocial support to their protégés than did formal mentors (Sosik & Bouquillon,
2005). Taken together, these studies suggest that informal mentors in work settings
provide more “friendship” behaviors, and in some cases, less instrumental support.
Can mentorships involving youth also involve friendship? Youth report hav-
ing natural mentors with some frequency. At least half of the young people in the
United States report having a relationship with a “natural mentor” (Zimmerman,
Bingenheimer, & Notaro, 2002). These natural mentors are nonparental adults
who provide close, caring support in a young person’s social network (Goldner &
Mayseless, 2009). At least for youth, a sense of closeness appears to be responsible
for positive changes in protégés (Rhodes & DuBois, 2006). We also know that these
relationships need to endure at least a year or more to provide benefits (Goldner &
Mayseless, 2009). Early termination of youth mentoring relationships (3 months
or less) has been associated with declines in self- worth and academic competence
(Golder & Mayseless, 2009). The positive outcomes of youth mentoring include
grades, emotional well- being, and behavioral measures such as school attendance.
Participants in mentoring relationships are more likely to experience benefits
when these relationships are “close, enduring, and consistent” (Rhodes & DuBois,
2006, p. 1).
For youth, mentors provide important sources of psychosocial support that
appears to be a lot like friendship from the young person’s perspective. The instru-
mental support provided in these relationships is focused on school as the “work”
of childhood and adolescence (Erikson, 1980). Thus, researchers who study these
relationships often examine outcomes such as school behaviors and attitudes,
grades, school attendance, and aspirations for future education (Dubois, Portillo,
Rhodes, Silverthorn, & Valentine, 2011; Zimmerman et al., 2002).
However, a complicating factor with any informal mentoring relationship is the
extent to which both individuals perceive the relationship similarly or even believe
they are in a mentoring relationship. Ensher and Murphy (1997) provided insight
into how mentors and protégés perceive their relationships quite differently. They