Keller’s systemic model of youth mentoring posits there are multiple pathways through which all stakeholders in the youth mentoring process, including the program staff who support the match (or case managers), influence youth outcomes.
This study underscores the central role of case managers in shaping the quality and durability of youth mentoring relationships. Building on Thomas Keller’s systemic model, which argues that program staff can influence outcomes through multiple pathways, the study followed 758 mentor–mentee matches supported by 73 case managers across seven agencies in nontargeted programs. Researchers examined how the perceived quality of match support related to two outcomes—closeness and length—and mapped the routes by which support exerts its effects.
Karcher, M. J., Sass, D. A., Herrera, C., DuBois, D. L., Heubach, J., & Grossman, J. B. (2023). Pathways by which case managers’ match support influences youth mentoring outcomes:Testing the systemic model of youth mentoring. Journal of Community Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.23010