A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Community-Based Mentoring Program

Mentoring programs are a widely used strategy for both the prevention of problem behavior and the promotion of healthy development and resilience among disadvantaged youth. The largest and longest-standing of these programs in the United States is the community-based mentoring (CBM) program of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. This research reports findings from a randomized controlled trial of the CBM program that followed 1353 youth ages 10 and older for 4 years. Outcomes were assessed through youth and parent surveys and administrative records of arrest, with program effects examined through intent-to-treat analyses on hypothesized primary and secondary outcomes as assessed at study endpoint. For primary outcomes, the treatment group had significantly lower rates of violence-related delinquent behavior and recurring substance use and nonsignificantly lower rates of property-related delinquent behavior and arrest. For secondary outcomes, there were significant effects favoring the treatment group on measures of risk factors for problem behavior (e.g., negative peer associations), personal resources (e.g., self-control, social skills, coping efficacy), mental health (e.g., positive affect, depressive symptoms), academic performance, and the parenting behavior of the youth's caregiver; there were also numerous outcomes for which effects were nonsignificant, albeit in nearly all cases in a direction favoring the treatment group.