A Child Trends Research Brief released today, "What Works for Mentoring Programs: Lessons from Experimental Evaluations of Programs and Interventions," examines 19 mentoring programs, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, to determine how well they meet their intended outcomes and what we can learn from them.

We found that mentoring programs that target at-risk youth or are community-based (versus school-based) are more frequently effective, as are those lasting a year or more. While mentoring is a good strategy for helping children with education, social skills and relationships, programs aimed at behavior problems, such as reducing teen pregnancy or bullying, were not found to be effective.