ABSTRACT
As a high-profile concept, mentoring arrived in 1978 as part of the literature on business leadership. In the late 1970s, an age of economic slowdown and political malaise in America, mentoring seemed a way forward for both individuals and social institutions. Rhodes does point to three positive mentoring outcomes: enhancing social skills and emotional well-being, improving cognitive skills through dialogue and listening, and serving as a role model and advocate. However, she presents the negative potential of mentoring as well. When adults are inconsistent in their mentoring efforts, the young people involved suffer harm, more than they would have they merely been left alone. The impact of early termination was seen in areas such as perception of competence, school attendance, pro-social behavior, and abstinence. The article, and the concept of corporate mentoring, was not uncontroversial. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, research and writing about young people in poverty pointed to mentoring as a key strategy to help young people.
