Lindsey M Weiler
Biographic Data
| ID | 303088 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lindsey M Weiler |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lindsey M |
| FAMILY NAME | Weiler |
| SIGNATURE | WEILER L M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Minnesota |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0319-9222 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 105 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Examining Mentors’ In-the-Moment Observations of Youth-Related Concerns Within an After School Mentoring Program
Mentors serve as critical sources of support for young people and have a unique vantage point for observing the child’s life. Their perspective is also crucial for identifying the challenges mentors may encounter, which helps guide training and supervision. Using archival data, the current study sought to index real-time concerns that mentors were noticing with their youth mentees (ages 11–18) during a site-based mentoring program. This program d…
Does the experience of mentoring youth affect mentors' mental health and wellbeing
Engaging in positive campus opportunities amid stress or strain may help support college student mental health and wellbeing. This study examined whether participating in a service-learning course as mentors to youth exposed to adversities was related to college students' mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants (N = 548; 18-41 years old; M age = 20.03) included 112 college student mentors enrolled in the service-lea…
Environmental and Individual Risk as Moderators of a Site‐Based Mentoring Program for Adolescents Exposed to Adversities
It is currently unclear if individual and environmental risk factors impact youth experiences of mentoring. The goal of this study was to clarify the moderating effect of individual and environmental risk factors on mentoring programs outcomes. Participants were 676 youth (10–19 years‐old) and their guardians engaged in a site‐based, targeted mentoring program. Results revealed that youth with greater individual risk factors compared to fewer ris…
Rural adolescents’ and parents’ attitudes toward types of mental health services and supports
The Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the Mental Health of Adolescents with Child Welfare Involvement
An Examination of the Lived Experiences of College Student Mentors and Their Experiences of Flourishing in a Youth Mentoring Program
This study examined college students' perceptions about whether volunteering as a youth mentor impacts their experience of flourishing. The aim was to examine how specific experiences in the mentoring program (e.g., relationships with staff and peers, belonging to an organization, and skill development) may lead to flourishing. This study was conducted using a phenomenological study design and was guided by the broaden‐and‐build theory of positiv…
A Mixed-Method Exploration of an emotion coaching approach within youth mentoring
The need and acceptability of a youth mental health mentoring model to supplement adolescent outpatient mental health services
Parents’ attitudes toward and experiences with seeking informal mentors for their children
Fostering social connectedness among adolescents and adults with autism
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts approximately 1 in 44 children in the United States. Common characteristics of ASD are marked deficits in communication and social connectedness. As autistic children approach adolescence, there is a lack of interventions available to them. Mentoring can provide adolescents with a relationship that facilitates social connectedness with another person who has a shared life experience, filling a gap in service…
Striving for safety, impact, and equity
In this virtual special issue (VSI) we curate and reflect upon 22 articles on formal youth mentoring previously published in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) . First, we provide historical context and highlight AJCP 's 2002 special issue on mentoring, which played an important role in establishing youth mentoring as a vibrant area of research. Next, we review and discuss findings from subsequent AJCP studies in three interrelat…
Engagement in a Preventive Intervention for Preadolescent Children in Foster Care
Mentoring Children in Foster Care
Mentoring‐based interventions show promise among children in foster care, but previous research suggests that some benefit more than others. Because children in foster care experience relationship disruptions that could affect mentoring effectiveness, we examined whether children’s relational histories at baseline (i.e., relationship quality with birth parents, relationship quality with foster parents, caregiver instability, and previous mentorin…
The Comparative Roles of Mentor Self-Efficacy and Empathy in Fostering Relationship Quality with Youth
Youth mentors’ efficacy beliefs and relational skills should both influence the quality of their connections with their mentees, but a lack of research based on large, dyadic and longitudinal samples limits understanding of how mentor characteristics impact relationship quality. This study used three staged and process-focused structural equation models to (1) investigate the mutually reinforcing effects of mentor self-efficacy and empathy over t…
“My village fell apart”
Objective To assess parents' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to promoting informal mentoring relationships for their children with caring adults in their existing social network. Background Supportive relationships with nonparental adults are critical to positive youth development, social capital, healthy living, and upward mobility, but not all children experience such relationships. Because parents are the primary gatekeepers to childr…
Adolescents’ experiences of mentor alliance and sense of belonging in a site-based mentoring intervention
Does Organizing Mentor-Mentee Matches into Small Groups Enhance Treatment Effects in a Site-Based Mentoring Program for Adolescents? Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Mentor’s Self-Efficacy Trajectories During a Mentoring Program for At-Risk Adolescents
Risk, support, and reasons for wanting a mentor
Youth Risk and Mentoring Relationship Quality
Because program experiences are more amendable than mentor or mentee characteristics, they may be important factors to consider in buffering the negative impact of youth risk on the quality of the mentor–mentee bond. Data from 455 mentees (ages 11–18; 57% male) and their undergraduate student mentors (82.3% female) from the Campus Connections mentoring program were used to assess whether youth risk and mentors’ program experiences (i.e., program …
A Positive Youth Development Approach to Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Maltreated Children in Foster Care
Highlights Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF) is a preventive intervention for preadolescent youth in foster care. 95% of those offered FHF started the program, 92% completed it, and there was over 85% attendance. FHF reduced mental health symptoms, especially trauma, and mental health service utilization. Effects were consistent across almost all subgroups, suggesting FHF benefits diverse children. Positive youth development programming is acceptab…
Mentor Response to Youth Academic Support–Seeking Behavior
Mentoring-based interventions for adolescent offenders are promising strategies for reducing the likelihood of academic underachievement, truancy, and school dropout. Program effectiveness, however, varies widely. Investigation into factors that strengthen the impact of mentoring on academic-related outcomes is warranted. One factor might be academic attunement, or the degree to which a mentor’s emphasis on academics is consistent with youth’s ac…
Young mentors' relationship capacity
Because the responsibility of developing strong connections to mentees often depends on mentors themselves, examining mentor qualities and relational capacity may identify malleable factors-or potential points of intervention-to improve perceived match quality. Relational capacity has been proposed as a theoretical concept for understanding how mentors' previous experience, characteristics, and skills relate to mentoring quality. Our conceptual m…
A typology of school-based mentoring relationship quality
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health-Risk Behaviors in Vulnerable Early Adolescents
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with health-risk behaviors in general samples of adults and adolescents. The current study examined the association between ACEs and these behaviors among a high-risk sample of early adolescents. Five hundred and fifteen 9-11-year-old children placed in foster care due to maltreatment were interviewed about their engagement in violence, substance use, and delinquency. A multi-informant ACEs scor…
Benefits Derived by College Students from Mentoring At‐Risk Youth in a Service‐Learning Course
Service learning is increasingly being used as a pedagogical strategy for promoting the development of civic‐mindedness among university students. Despite the use of this strategy, little is known about the benefits derived from specific types of service‐learning experiences. Additionally, few notable studies have examined the unique outcomes experienced by mentors of at‐risk youth. Therefore, this study examines the civic‐related benefits that c…
A Comprehensive Model of Mentor Experiences
To date, little is understood about the mentors’ experience of mentoring at‐risk youth. The current study sought to enrich this understanding by exploring how mentors within a structured mentoring community perceive their experience and determining what strategies they employ to optimally navigate their mentoring relationship. Due to the need to cultivate a deeper understanding, the present study utilized grounded theory methodology to uncover co…
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health-Risk Behaviors in Vulnerable Early Adolescents
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with health-risk behaviors in general samples of adults and adolescents. The current study examined the association between ACEs and these behaviors among a high-risk sample of early adolescents. Five hundred and fifteen 9-11-year-old children placed in foster care due to maltreatment were interviewed about their engagement in violence, substance use, and delinquency. A multi-informant ACEs scor…
Youth Risk and Mentoring Relationship Quality
Because program experiences are more amendable than mentor or mentee characteristics, they may be important factors to consider in buffering the negative impact of youth risk on the quality of the mentor–mentee bond. Data from 455 mentees (ages 11–18; 57% male) and their undergraduate student mentors (82.3% female) from the Campus Connections mentoring program were used to assess whether youth risk and mentors’ program experiences (i.e., program …
Risk, support, and reasons for wanting a mentor
A Positive Youth Development Approach to Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Maltreated Children in Foster Care
Highlights Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF) is a preventive intervention for preadolescent youth in foster care. 95% of those offered FHF started the program, 92% completed it, and there was over 85% attendance. FHF reduced mental health symptoms, especially trauma, and mental health service utilization. Effects were consistent across almost all subgroups, suggesting FHF benefits diverse children. Positive youth development programming is acceptab…
Mentoring Relationship Quality and Maltreated Children's Coping
Highlights Linking mentoring relationship quality to youth outcomes. Youth mentoring within a maltreated foster care sample. Youth mentoring in relation to multiple forms of youth coping
The Comparative Roles of Mentor Self-Efficacy and Empathy in Fostering Relationship Quality with Youth
Youth mentors’ efficacy beliefs and relational skills should both influence the quality of their connections with their mentees, but a lack of research based on large, dyadic and longitudinal samples limits understanding of how mentor characteristics impact relationship quality. This study used three staged and process-focused structural equation models to (1) investigate the mutually reinforcing effects of mentor self-efficacy and empathy over t…
Young mentors' relationship capacity
Because the responsibility of developing strong connections to mentees often depends on mentors themselves, examining mentor qualities and relational capacity may identify malleable factors-or potential points of intervention-to improve perceived match quality. Relational capacity has been proposed as a theoretical concept for understanding how mentors' previous experience, characteristics, and skills relate to mentoring quality. Our conceptual m…
A First Look at Natural Mentoring Among Preadolescent Foster Children
This study describes natural mentoring among preadolescent children placed in out‐of‐home care and examines the association between natural mentoring and demographic, maltreatment, placement, and psychosocial characteristics. Cross‐sectional data from a sample of 263 children and their out‐of‐home caregivers were analyzed. Caregivers rated children's social skills, and children reported on their perceived opportunities and attachment to peers and…
Striving for safety, impact, and equity
In this virtual special issue (VSI) we curate and reflect upon 22 articles on formal youth mentoring previously published in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) . First, we provide historical context and highlight AJCP 's 2002 special issue on mentoring, which played an important role in establishing youth mentoring as a vibrant area of research. Next, we review and discuss findings from subsequent AJCP studies in three interrelat…
Mentoring Children in Foster Care
Mentoring‐based interventions show promise among children in foster care, but previous research suggests that some benefit more than others. Because children in foster care experience relationship disruptions that could affect mentoring effectiveness, we examined whether children’s relational histories at baseline (i.e., relationship quality with birth parents, relationship quality with foster parents, caregiver instability, and previous mentorin…
A typology of school-based mentoring relationship quality
Fostering Healthy Futures for Teens
Too often program adaptations are made without careful consideration of important contextual issues, and too infrequently, these adapted programs are studied. Our process of program adaptation with rigorous measurement of program implementation provides a useful model for other evidence-based programs seeking thoughtful adaptation
Adolescents’ experiences of mentor alliance and sense of belonging in a site-based mentoring intervention
Mentor Response to Youth Academic Support–Seeking Behavior
Mentoring-based interventions for adolescent offenders are promising strategies for reducing the likelihood of academic underachievement, truancy, and school dropout. Program effectiveness, however, varies widely. Investigation into factors that strengthen the impact of mentoring on academic-related outcomes is warranted. One factor might be academic attunement, or the degree to which a mentor’s emphasis on academics is consistent with youth’s ac…
Does Organizing Mentor-Mentee Matches into Small Groups Enhance Treatment Effects in a Site-Based Mentoring Program for Adolescents? Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Understanding the Experience of Mentor Families in Therapeutic Youth Mentoring
The fragility of youth‐adult mentoring relationships requires innovative program components to support and sustain these relationships and enhance participant outcomes. The current study presents and explores the experience of a unique mentoring program component known as Mentor Families, in which three to four pairs of mentors and mentees engage in structured activities together. Grounded theory methods were utilized to explore the experiences o…
The Blind Side
The Blind Side is based on the true story of famed football player, Michael Oher. The film begins when Michael is enrolled in a private, Christian school on the opposite side of town from the proje
Benefits Derived by College Students from Mentoring At‐Risk Youth in a Service‐Learning Course
Service learning is increasingly being used as a pedagogical strategy for promoting the development of civic‐mindedness among university students. Despite the use of this strategy, little is known about the benefits derived from specific types of service‐learning experiences. Additionally, few notable studies have examined the unique outcomes experienced by mentors of at‐risk youth. Therefore, this study examines the civic‐related benefits that c…
A Comprehensive Model of Mentor Experiences
To date, little is understood about the mentors’ experience of mentoring at‐risk youth. The current study sought to enrich this understanding by exploring how mentors within a structured mentoring community perceive their experience and determining what strategies they employ to optimally navigate their mentoring relationship. Due to the need to cultivate a deeper understanding, the present study utilized grounded theory methodology to uncover co…
Understanding the Experience of Mentor Families in Therapeutic Youth Mentoring
The fragility of youth‐adult mentoring relationships requires innovative program components to support and sustain these relationships and enhance participant outcomes. The current study presents and explores the experience of a unique mentoring program component known as Mentor Families, in which three to four pairs of mentors and mentees engage in structured activities together. Grounded theory methods were utilized to explore the experiences o…
Time-Limited, Structured Youth Mentoring and Adolescent Problem Behaviors
Youth mentoring can have a profound impact on the lives of high-risk youth. This study presents the Campus Corps program, a time-limited (12-week), structured mentoring program for high-risk youth (ages 11-18), and results from a quasi-experimental pilot evaluation. Baseline and post-intervention problem behavior data from 315 offending youth were used in multiple regression analyses. After accounting for baseline group differences, pre-intervent…
Fostering Healthy Futures for Teens
Too often program adaptations are made without careful consideration of important contextual issues, and too infrequently, these adapted programs are studied. Our process of program adaptation with rigorous measurement of program implementation provides a useful model for other evidence-based programs seeking thoughtful adaptation
A First Look at Natural Mentoring Among Preadolescent Foster Children
This study describes natural mentoring among preadolescent children placed in out‐of‐home care and examines the association between natural mentoring and demographic, maltreatment, placement, and psychosocial characteristics. Cross‐sectional data from a sample of 263 children and their out‐of‐home caregivers were analyzed. Caregivers rated children's social skills, and children reported on their perceived opportunities and attachment to peers and…
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Health-Risk Behaviors in Vulnerable Early Adolescents
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with health-risk behaviors in general samples of adults and adolescents. The current study examined the association between ACEs and these behaviors among a high-risk sample of early adolescents. Five hundred and fifteen 9-11-year-old children placed in foster care due to maltreatment were interviewed about their engagement in violence, substance use, and delinquency. A multi-informant ACEs scor…
Mentoring Relationship Quality and Maltreated Children's Coping
Highlights Linking mentoring relationship quality to youth outcomes. Youth mentoring within a maltreated foster care sample. Youth mentoring in relation to multiple forms of youth coping
A typology of school-based mentoring relationship quality
Mentor’s Self-Efficacy Trajectories During a Mentoring Program for At-Risk Adolescents
Risk, support, and reasons for wanting a mentor
Youth Risk and Mentoring Relationship Quality
Because program experiences are more amendable than mentor or mentee characteristics, they may be important factors to consider in buffering the negative impact of youth risk on the quality of the mentor–mentee bond. Data from 455 mentees (ages 11–18; 57% male) and their undergraduate student mentors (82.3% female) from the Campus Connections mentoring program were used to assess whether youth risk and mentors’ program experiences (i.e., program …
A Positive Youth Development Approach to Improving Mental Health Outcomes for Maltreated Children in Foster Care
Highlights Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF) is a preventive intervention for preadolescent youth in foster care. 95% of those offered FHF started the program, 92% completed it, and there was over 85% attendance. FHF reduced mental health symptoms, especially trauma, and mental health service utilization. Effects were consistent across almost all subgroups, suggesting FHF benefits diverse children. Positive youth development programming is acceptab…
Mentor Response to Youth Academic Support–Seeking Behavior
Mentoring-based interventions for adolescent offenders are promising strategies for reducing the likelihood of academic underachievement, truancy, and school dropout. Program effectiveness, however, varies widely. Investigation into factors that strengthen the impact of mentoring on academic-related outcomes is warranted. One factor might be academic attunement, or the degree to which a mentor’s emphasis on academics is consistent with youth’s ac…
Young mentors' relationship capacity
Because the responsibility of developing strong connections to mentees often depends on mentors themselves, examining mentor qualities and relational capacity may identify malleable factors-or potential points of intervention-to improve perceived match quality. Relational capacity has been proposed as a theoretical concept for understanding how mentors' previous experience, characteristics, and skills relate to mentoring quality. Our conceptual m…
“My village fell apart”
Objective To assess parents' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to promoting informal mentoring relationships for their children with caring adults in their existing social network. Background Supportive relationships with nonparental adults are critical to positive youth development, social capital, healthy living, and upward mobility, but not all children experience such relationships. Because parents are the primary gatekeepers to childr…
Adolescents’ experiences of mentor alliance and sense of belonging in a site-based mentoring intervention
Does Organizing Mentor-Mentee Matches into Small Groups Enhance Treatment Effects in a Site-Based Mentoring Program for Adolescents? Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Engagement in a Preventive Intervention for Preadolescent Children in Foster Care
Mentoring Children in Foster Care
Mentoring‐based interventions show promise among children in foster care, but previous research suggests that some benefit more than others. Because children in foster care experience relationship disruptions that could affect mentoring effectiveness, we examined whether children’s relational histories at baseline (i.e., relationship quality with birth parents, relationship quality with foster parents, caregiver instability, and previous mentorin…
The Comparative Roles of Mentor Self-Efficacy and Empathy in Fostering Relationship Quality with Youth
Youth mentors’ efficacy beliefs and relational skills should both influence the quality of their connections with their mentees, but a lack of research based on large, dyadic and longitudinal samples limits understanding of how mentor characteristics impact relationship quality. This study used three staged and process-focused structural equation models to (1) investigate the mutually reinforcing effects of mentor self-efficacy and empathy over t…
Fostering social connectedness among adolescents and adults with autism
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) impacts approximately 1 in 44 children in the United States. Common characteristics of ASD are marked deficits in communication and social connectedness. As autistic children approach adolescence, there is a lack of interventions available to them. Mentoring can provide adolescents with a relationship that facilitates social connectedness with another person who has a shared life experience, filling a gap in service…
Striving for safety, impact, and equity
In this virtual special issue (VSI) we curate and reflect upon 22 articles on formal youth mentoring previously published in the American Journal of Community Psychology (AJCP) . First, we provide historical context and highlight AJCP 's 2002 special issue on mentoring, which played an important role in establishing youth mentoring as a vibrant area of research. Next, we review and discuss findings from subsequent AJCP studies in three interrelat…
The need and acceptability of a youth mental health mentoring model to supplement adolescent outpatient mental health services
Psychology (30 works) · Developmental psychology (22 works) · Mentoring and Academic Development (21 works) · Medicine (19 works) · Youth Development and Social Support (17 works) · Clinical Psychology (13 works) · Psychiatry (13 works) · Social Psychology (11 works) · Public health (10 works) · Health psychology (9 works)