Samuel D Mcquillin
Biographic Data
| ID | 4369489 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Samuel D Mcquillin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Samuel D |
| FAMILY NAME | Mcquillin |
| SIGNATURE | MCQUILLIN S D |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of South Carolina |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6880-5871 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 61 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The Influence of Mentoring on Educational Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors (Eabbs): A Scoping Review
Youth mentoring is a popular means for preventing negative psychosocial outcomes (e.g., high-risk behaviors, school dropout) and promoting positive ones (e.g., matriculation, goal setting). Mentors matched with youth through formal programs, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, are uniquely positioned to promote the development of the mentee’s positive educational attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (EABBs; e.g., academic engagement, grit, growth mind…
The efficacy and usability of motivational interviewing just‐in‐time trainings for youth mentors
Using youth mentors to deliver evidence‐based psychosocial services has been proposed to increase the reach of treatments, in part given the affordability and ubiquity of mentors in youth settings. Further, tests of mentor‐delivered motivational interviewing (MI) have shown increases in youth mentees' academic performance and wellbeing. Yet, traditional methods of training mentors to use MI can be costly and time‐consuming. Previous work has sugg…
Understanding patterns of hope from informal mentoring through latent class analysis
Spotlighting racism in schools: Teacher mentors and the mediating effect of school safety
Youth are more likely to succeed when they feel safe at school and have access to caring relationships with adults. Systemic racism interrupts access to these assets. Within schools, racially/ethnically minoritized youth encounter policies rooted in racism, leading to decreased perceptions of school safety. Having a teacher mentor may mitigate some of the harmful effects of systemic racism and discriminatory practices. Yet, teacher mentors may no…
Striving for safety, impact, and equity: A critical consideration of AJCP publications on formal youth mentoring programs
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…
Expanding the reach of psychosocial services for youth: Untapped potential of mentor‐delivered single session interventions
At present, the mental healthcare system cannot meet the demand for services, and the need‐to‐access gap is widest among children and adolescents. Single session interventions (SSIs) are brief, intentional, and mechanism‐targeted programs that have shown promise in increasing the reach of effective, evidence‐based services; yet, a wide gap still remains due to structural barriers (e.g., lack of awareness, workforce shortages). The present paper p…
Assessing Longitudinal Impacts of Mentor Role on Youth Outcomes
Youth who report prosocial relationships with natural mentors show increased social and academic success and life satisfaction. However, little research investigates how mentors impact aspects of youth identity such as athleticism or religiosity. The present study applies a Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) analysis model to data from a national longitudinal study ( N = 15,701) to predict specific outcomes in educational, athletic, and re…
Deconstructing “Risk” in Youth Mentoring Programs: How Environmental Stressors and Presenting Challenges Shape Mentoring Relationship Outcomes
Youth referred to mentoring programs vary considerably in the range and severity of difficulties (i.e., behavioral, internalizing, social and academic) and environmental challenges they face. However, their patterns of risk and corresponding consequences for mentoring have rarely been investigated. This study draws on data for youth participants in 30 mentoring programs ( n = 2,165, 55.1% females) to examine patterns of presenting challenges. Fou…
Paraprofessional Youth Mentoring: A Framework for Integrating Youth Mentoring with Helping Institutions and Professions
The demand for child mental health services, including those provided by psychologists, counselors, and social workers, exceeds the supply. This trend is expected to continue or worsen unless there are substantial structural changes in how mental health services are provided. We propose a framework for paraprofessional youth mentors, defined as a subgroup of professionally supervised, non‐expert volunteer or paid mentors to whom aspects of profes…
Supporting autonomy in youth mentoring relationships
The preference for and exercise of autonomous decision‐making in adolescence is a normative developmental process. Yet, increased autonomy is associated with both risks and benefits. Connection to others through positive relationships, including mentoring relationships, is one context that predicts healthy autonomous decision‐making. In other ways, such relationships can interfere or stifle the development of autonomy. In synthesizing the existin…
It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature: Evaluating Mentoring Programs with Heterogeneous Activities
Assessing the impact of school-based mentoring: Common problems and solutions associated with evaluating nonprescriptive youth development programs
Like many youth development programs, most youth mentoring programs do not have prescribed practices that target specific outcomes. Because the construct of mentoring represents a broad range of potential activities, researchers face a conundrum when making generalizable causal inferences about the effects of this and similar services. On the one hand, researchers cannot make valid experimental inferences if they do not describe what they manipul…
Infant Social Avoidance Predicts Autism but Not Anxiety in Fragile X Syndrome
Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety are three of the most common childhood psychiatric disorders. Early trajectories of social avoidance have been linked with these psychiatric disorders in previous studies, but it remains unclear how social avoidance differentially predicts comorbid disorders in a high-risk genetic subgroup. Here, we delineate the association between trajectorie…
Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School‐based Mentoring
School‐based mentoring programs are popular prevention programs thought to influence youth development; but rigorous evaluations indicate that these programs often have small effects on youth outcomes. Researchers suggest that these findings may be explained by (a) mentors and mentees failing to develop a close relationship and (b) mentors not setting goals or focusing on specific skills necessary improve outcomes. We assessed these explanations …
Strengthening and Expanding Child Services in Low Resource Communities: The Role of Task‐Shifting and Just‐in‐Time Training
In the United States, the demand for child mental health services is increasing, while the supply is limited by workforce shortages. These shortages are unlikely to be corrected without significant structural changes in how mental health services are provided. One strategy for bridging this gap is task‐shifting , defined as a process by which services that are typically delivered by professionals are moved to individuals with less extensive quali…
Brief Instrumental School‐based Mentoring for First‐ and Second‐year Middle School Students: A Randomized Evaluation
A limitation of school‐based mentoring (SBM) is the lack of structured, evidence‐based practices in mentoring sessions that explicitly target school‐relevant outcomes, such as academic performance and school behavior. To address this concern, we developed and experimentally evaluated a brief SBM program based on practices adapted from evidence‐based counseling and academic interventions with the goal of improving the academic and behavioral perfo…
Distinguishing among nondirect forms of aggression
This study explored the relationships and differences among two measures of indirect aggression [Bjorkqvist et al., 1994; Richardson and Green, 1997] and one of relational aggression [Crick and Grotpeter, 1995]. Over 300 students (mean age 22.8 years; 61.5% female) from two colleges in the Southeastern United States completed measures of indirect and relational aggression and related constructs (e.g., empathy, anger expression, direct aggression)…
Randomized evaluation of a single semester transitional mentoring program for first year middle school students: A cautionary result for brief, school-based mentoring programs
School-based youth mentoring is popular in the United States. There are reasons to believe that school-based mentoring might be beneficial, but research has found primarily small effects and some negative effects. This study describes a formal evaluation of a single semester mentoring program that was implemented within the context of a school-university-community partnership. Middle school students were randomly assigned to a school-based mentor…
Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School‐based Mentoring
School‐based mentoring programs are popular prevention programs thought to influence youth development; but rigorous evaluations indicate that these programs often have small effects on youth outcomes. Researchers suggest that these findings may be explained by (a) mentors and mentees failing to develop a close relationship and (b) mentors not setting goals or focusing on specific skills necessary improve outcomes. We assessed these explanations …
Brief Instrumental School‐based Mentoring for First‐ and Second‐year Middle School Students: A Randomized Evaluation
A limitation of school‐based mentoring (SBM) is the lack of structured, evidence‐based practices in mentoring sessions that explicitly target school‐relevant outcomes, such as academic performance and school behavior. To address this concern, we developed and experimentally evaluated a brief SBM program based on practices adapted from evidence‐based counseling and academic interventions with the goal of improving the academic and behavioral perfo…
Randomized evaluation of a single semester transitional mentoring program for first year middle school students: A cautionary result for brief, school-based mentoring programs
School-based youth mentoring is popular in the United States. There are reasons to believe that school-based mentoring might be beneficial, but research has found primarily small effects and some negative effects. This study describes a formal evaluation of a single semester mentoring program that was implemented within the context of a school-university-community partnership. Middle school students were randomly assigned to a school-based mentor…
Strengthening and Expanding Child Services in Low Resource Communities: The Role of Task‐Shifting and Just‐in‐Time Training
In the United States, the demand for child mental health services is increasing, while the supply is limited by workforce shortages. These shortages are unlikely to be corrected without significant structural changes in how mental health services are provided. One strategy for bridging this gap is task‐shifting , defined as a process by which services that are typically delivered by professionals are moved to individuals with less extensive quali…
Paraprofessional Youth Mentoring: A Framework for Integrating Youth Mentoring with Helping Institutions and Professions
The demand for child mental health services, including those provided by psychologists, counselors, and social workers, exceeds the supply. This trend is expected to continue or worsen unless there are substantial structural changes in how mental health services are provided. We propose a framework for paraprofessional youth mentors, defined as a subgroup of professionally supervised, non‐expert volunteer or paid mentors to whom aspects of profes…
Deconstructing “Risk” in Youth Mentoring Programs: How Environmental Stressors and Presenting Challenges Shape Mentoring Relationship Outcomes
Youth referred to mentoring programs vary considerably in the range and severity of difficulties (i.e., behavioral, internalizing, social and academic) and environmental challenges they face. However, their patterns of risk and corresponding consequences for mentoring have rarely been investigated. This study draws on data for youth participants in 30 mentoring programs ( n = 2,165, 55.1% females) to examine patterns of presenting challenges. Fou…
Striving for safety, impact, and equity: A critical consideration of AJCP publications on formal youth mentoring programs
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…
Supporting autonomy in youth mentoring relationships
The preference for and exercise of autonomous decision‐making in adolescence is a normative developmental process. Yet, increased autonomy is associated with both risks and benefits. Connection to others through positive relationships, including mentoring relationships, is one context that predicts healthy autonomous decision‐making. In other ways, such relationships can interfere or stifle the development of autonomy. In synthesizing the existin…
Spotlighting racism in schools: Teacher mentors and the mediating effect of school safety
Youth are more likely to succeed when they feel safe at school and have access to caring relationships with adults. Systemic racism interrupts access to these assets. Within schools, racially/ethnically minoritized youth encounter policies rooted in racism, leading to decreased perceptions of school safety. Having a teacher mentor may mitigate some of the harmful effects of systemic racism and discriminatory practices. Yet, teacher mentors may no…
Expanding the reach of psychosocial services for youth: Untapped potential of mentor‐delivered single session interventions
At present, the mental healthcare system cannot meet the demand for services, and the need‐to‐access gap is widest among children and adolescents. Single session interventions (SSIs) are brief, intentional, and mechanism‐targeted programs that have shown promise in increasing the reach of effective, evidence‐based services; yet, a wide gap still remains due to structural barriers (e.g., lack of awareness, workforce shortages). The present paper p…
Distinguishing among nondirect forms of aggression
This study explored the relationships and differences among two measures of indirect aggression [Bjorkqvist et al., 1994; Richardson and Green, 1997] and one of relational aggression [Crick and Grotpeter, 1995]. Over 300 students (mean age 22.8 years; 61.5% female) from two colleges in the Southeastern United States completed measures of indirect and relational aggression and related constructs (e.g., empathy, anger expression, direct aggression)…
Distinguishing among nondirect forms of aggression
This study explored the relationships and differences among two measures of indirect aggression [Bjorkqvist et al., 1994; Richardson and Green, 1997] and one of relational aggression [Crick and Grotpeter, 1995]. Over 300 students (mean age 22.8 years; 61.5% female) from two colleges in the Southeastern United States completed measures of indirect and relational aggression and related constructs (e.g., empathy, anger expression, direct aggression)…
Randomized evaluation of a single semester transitional mentoring program for first year middle school students: A cautionary result for brief, school-based mentoring programs
School-based youth mentoring is popular in the United States. There are reasons to believe that school-based mentoring might be beneficial, but research has found primarily small effects and some negative effects. This study describes a formal evaluation of a single semester mentoring program that was implemented within the context of a school-university-community partnership. Middle school students were randomly assigned to a school-based mentor…
Brief Instrumental School‐based Mentoring for First‐ and Second‐year Middle School Students: A Randomized Evaluation
A limitation of school‐based mentoring (SBM) is the lack of structured, evidence‐based practices in mentoring sessions that explicitly target school‐relevant outcomes, such as academic performance and school behavior. To address this concern, we developed and experimentally evaluated a brief SBM program based on practices adapted from evidence‐based counseling and academic interventions with the goal of improving the academic and behavioral perfo…
Infant Social Avoidance Predicts Autism but Not Anxiety in Fragile X Syndrome
Objective: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and anxiety are three of the most common childhood psychiatric disorders. Early trajectories of social avoidance have been linked with these psychiatric disorders in previous studies, but it remains unclear how social avoidance differentially predicts comorbid disorders in a high-risk genetic subgroup. Here, we delineate the association between trajectorie…
Finding the Sweet Spot: Investigating the Effects of Relationship Closeness and Instrumental Activities in School‐based Mentoring
School‐based mentoring programs are popular prevention programs thought to influence youth development; but rigorous evaluations indicate that these programs often have small effects on youth outcomes. Researchers suggest that these findings may be explained by (a) mentors and mentees failing to develop a close relationship and (b) mentors not setting goals or focusing on specific skills necessary improve outcomes. We assessed these explanations …
Strengthening and Expanding Child Services in Low Resource Communities: The Role of Task‐Shifting and Just‐in‐Time Training
In the United States, the demand for child mental health services is increasing, while the supply is limited by workforce shortages. These shortages are unlikely to be corrected without significant structural changes in how mental health services are provided. One strategy for bridging this gap is task‐shifting , defined as a process by which services that are typically delivered by professionals are moved to individuals with less extensive quali…
Assessing the impact of school-based mentoring: Common problems and solutions associated with evaluating nonprescriptive youth development programs
Like many youth development programs, most youth mentoring programs do not have prescribed practices that target specific outcomes. Because the construct of mentoring represents a broad range of potential activities, researchers face a conundrum when making generalizable causal inferences about the effects of this and similar services. On the one hand, researchers cannot make valid experimental inferences if they do not describe what they manipul…
It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature: Evaluating Mentoring Programs with Heterogeneous Activities
Deconstructing “Risk” in Youth Mentoring Programs: How Environmental Stressors and Presenting Challenges Shape Mentoring Relationship Outcomes
Youth referred to mentoring programs vary considerably in the range and severity of difficulties (i.e., behavioral, internalizing, social and academic) and environmental challenges they face. However, their patterns of risk and corresponding consequences for mentoring have rarely been investigated. This study draws on data for youth participants in 30 mentoring programs ( n = 2,165, 55.1% females) to examine patterns of presenting challenges. Fou…
Paraprofessional Youth Mentoring: A Framework for Integrating Youth Mentoring with Helping Institutions and Professions
The demand for child mental health services, including those provided by psychologists, counselors, and social workers, exceeds the supply. This trend is expected to continue or worsen unless there are substantial structural changes in how mental health services are provided. We propose a framework for paraprofessional youth mentors, defined as a subgroup of professionally supervised, non‐expert volunteer or paid mentors to whom aspects of profes…
Supporting autonomy in youth mentoring relationships
The preference for and exercise of autonomous decision‐making in adolescence is a normative developmental process. Yet, increased autonomy is associated with both risks and benefits. Connection to others through positive relationships, including mentoring relationships, is one context that predicts healthy autonomous decision‐making. In other ways, such relationships can interfere or stifle the development of autonomy. In synthesizing the existin…
Striving for safety, impact, and equity: A critical consideration of AJCP publications on formal youth mentoring programs
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…
Expanding the reach of psychosocial services for youth: Untapped potential of mentor‐delivered single session interventions
At present, the mental healthcare system cannot meet the demand for services, and the need‐to‐access gap is widest among children and adolescents. Single session interventions (SSIs) are brief, intentional, and mechanism‐targeted programs that have shown promise in increasing the reach of effective, evidence‐based services; yet, a wide gap still remains due to structural barriers (e.g., lack of awareness, workforce shortages). The present paper p…
Assessing Longitudinal Impacts of Mentor Role on Youth Outcomes
Youth who report prosocial relationships with natural mentors show increased social and academic success and life satisfaction. However, little research investigates how mentors impact aspects of youth identity such as athleticism or religiosity. The present study applies a Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART) analysis model to data from a national longitudinal study ( N = 15,701) to predict specific outcomes in educational, athletic, and re…
Spotlighting racism in schools: Teacher mentors and the mediating effect of school safety
Youth are more likely to succeed when they feel safe at school and have access to caring relationships with adults. Systemic racism interrupts access to these assets. Within schools, racially/ethnically minoritized youth encounter policies rooted in racism, leading to decreased perceptions of school safety. Having a teacher mentor may mitigate some of the harmful effects of systemic racism and discriminatory practices. Yet, teacher mentors may no…
The efficacy and usability of motivational interviewing just‐in‐time trainings for youth mentors
Using youth mentors to deliver evidence‐based psychosocial services has been proposed to increase the reach of treatments, in part given the affordability and ubiquity of mentors in youth settings. Further, tests of mentor‐delivered motivational interviewing (MI) have shown increases in youth mentees' academic performance and wellbeing. Yet, traditional methods of training mentors to use MI can be costly and time‐consuming. Previous work has sugg…
Understanding patterns of hope from informal mentoring through latent class analysis
The Influence of Mentoring on Educational Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors (Eabbs): A Scoping Review
Youth mentoring is a popular means for preventing negative psychosocial outcomes (e.g., high-risk behaviors, school dropout) and promoting positive ones (e.g., matriculation, goal setting). Mentors matched with youth through formal programs, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters, are uniquely positioned to promote the development of the mentee’s positive educational attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (EABBs; e.g., academic engagement, grit, growth mind…
Psychology (16 works) · Medicine (11 works) · Mentoring and Academic Development (11 works) · Youth Development and Social Support (9 works) · Medical education (8 works) · Adolescent and Pediatric Healthcare (7 works) · Developmental psychology (7 works) · Political science (6 works) · Positive Youth Development (6 works) · Computer Science (5 works)