Peer Mentoring in Higher Education: Benefits and Limitations

Introduction to Peer Mentoring in College Settings

Collier (2017) explains that peer mentoring is an effective method for facilitating success among college students because it has a positive effect on learners' morale and increases student satisfaction with the university. This is essentially the same finding as that of Flores and Estudillo (2018), who note that peer-to-peer mentoring programs can assist first-year college students in achieving their academic and social goals. Peer mentoring provides support for learners by giving them a reliable source of encouragement and motivation to become more socially connected on campus. Both researchers found this to be true over the course of their studies.

Peer Mentoring for Students with Autism

Students with autism can also be assisted through peer mentoring, according to the study by Siew, Mazzucchelli, Rooney, and Girdler (2017). Siew et al. (2017) used a single-group pre-test, post-test design with qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the outcomes of peer mentoring among ten college students with autism. Interviews were conducted alongside questionnaires, and both focused on how students experienced the peer mentoring program and what impact it had on their general anxiety, state communication apprehension, perceived communication competence, and communication apprehension both prior to and five months after the program began. Siew et al. (2017) found that autistic students who received peer mentoring felt more socially supported and experienced reduced nervousness about communicating. The main limitation of the study, however, was the absence of a control group, which means that causation cannot be established—that is, the program cannot be confirmed as the cause of changes in social support or communication anxiety. The presence of a correlation between the program and these changes does not establish the program as the primary reason for them.

Roberts and Birmingham (2017) took a different approach from Siew et al. (2017) in that they sought to examine and explore the experience of mentoring among autistic college students as mentees. The researchers interviewed participants—both mentors and mentees—of the Autism Mentorship Initiative at a university. The aim of their research was to discover the most important themes for participants so that others could better understand where peer mentorship can help the most. By interviewing nine mentees and nine mentors, Roberts and Birmingham (2017) found that a mentee-centered approach to peer mentorship should focus on five key themes: (1) The Natural Progression of the Relationship, (2) The Supportive Mentor, (3) The Meeting Process, (4) Identifying and Implementing Goals, and (5) Learning Together.

While Siew et al. (2017) mainly focused on whether peer mentorship was effective at helping autistic students feel more confident socially and succeed academically, Roberts and Birmingham (2017) focused on the five most important aspects of mentoring autistic students that both mentors and mentees identified as essential. Relationship development was pivotal to the success of the peer mentorship program and was reinforced by mentors who demonstrated empathy and offered constructive assistance. The manner in which the mentor and mentee conduct their first meeting also sets the tone and should be approached in a way that makes the mentee feel safe, secure, confident, and comfortable. Identifying the goals that both parties want to achieve and developing a path toward those goals is the next critical step. Finally, the concept of learning together—that both the mentee and the mentor grow through the process—adds significant value for all participants. Mentors should therefore demonstrate to mentees that they too are gaining something positive from the experience (Roberts & Birmingham, 2017).

Wright et al. (2019) also examine the impact of peer mentoring on autistic students, though from the perspective of the graduate students who serve as mentors. Specifically, Wright et al. (2019) explore the philosophies of graduate student mentors and their perceptions after working with autistic students in the program. This study is significant because it tests the hypothesis that a correlation exists between a mentor's personal philosophy and the quality of their perception of the mentoring experience. If a mentor holds a well-developed philosophy of education, it follows that their perception of the mentoring experience will also reflect that quality. This is a critical insight that expands on the findings of Collier (2017). One of the most common outcomes among participants, however, was that mentors gained personal insight into themselves as a result of mentoring others. While this finding reflects favorably on mentoring overall, it reveals little about what mentees receive from the relationship. The emphasis on the mentor's experience risks producing a more subjective—if still positive—view of peer mentoring than a more balanced assessment might yield. This is a notable limitation of the study by Wright et al. (2019), and one that some studies manage to avoid, though not all.

First-Generation Students and Mentor Identity Support

The lack of a control group is often a limitation of most studies of this kind. Fruiht and Chan (2018), for instance, investigated the role that community members, relatives, and educators play in first-generation college students' educational outcomes by examining data from 4,181 participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent and Adult Health. The focus was on testing differences in the supports received by first-generation, continuing-generation, and non-college students. This approach comes closest to a control-group framework among most peer mentoring studies—not quite a true control group analysis, but rather a form of comparative group assessment. Randomized controlled trials with double-blind, placebo-controlled designs are considered the gold standard, but they are rarely conducted in this field because they require considerable time and preparation and raise ethical questions that are difficult to reconcile. As a result, the absence of a control group is a common limitation shared by most studies in this area.

Regardless, the study by Fruiht and Chan (2018) reveals that mentorship among adolescents can help strengthen relationships between students and parents. It also found that first-generation college students received less identity-related support from mentors than continuing-generation students. This suggests that peer mentors should be especially attentive to helping first-generation students develop a positive sense of self, given that these students are venturing into unfamiliar territory without family members who have shared the same experience. Their parents did not attend college, and so they lack a sympathetic or empathetic support network at home that understands what they are facing. They must navigate challenges on their own, which can strain their sense of identity. Peer mentors should be equipped to affirm first-generation students' decision to attend college—yet this is precisely the kind of support that first-generation students are not consistently receiving (Fruiht & Chan, 2018). This finding distinguishes the research of Fruiht and Chan (2018) from others who have examined peer mentoring more broadly.

Conclusion

The studies reviewed here are generally consistent in associating peer mentoring with positive outcomes. Although researchers employ different methods and designs, the data broadly supports a favorable view of peer mentorship. Some studies are exploratory while others provide quantitative data; some focus on the mentee experience, others on the mentor experience; some examine benefits for autistic learners, and others address challenges that peer mentoring programs might help solve. Despite their varied approaches, a clear pattern emerges: peer mentoring tends to enhance both academic achievement and social support for college students.

There remains, however, a significant need for more objective investigation. The possibility of conducting randomized controlled trials should be more openly discussed by researchers in this field, and it is worth asking why so few such studies exist on the topic. If peer mentoring is to be fully understood and its benefits properly validated, it must be examined with the rigor that randomized controlled trials afford. Until that standard is more widely adopted, the conclusions drawn from the existing literature—however consistently positive—will remain limited in the degree of confidence they can command.

References

Collier, P. (2017). Why peer mentoring is an effective approach for promoting college student success. Metropolitan Universities, 28(3), 9–19.

Deshler, J., Fuller, E., & Darrah, M. (2019). Supporting students through peer mentoring in developmental mathematics. Learning Assistance Review (TLAR), 24(1).

Flores, G., & Estudillo, A. G. (2018). Effects of a peer-to-peer mentoring program: Supporting first-year college students' academic and social integration on campus. Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice, 3(2), 3.

Fruiht, V., & Chan, T. (2018). Naturally occurring mentorship in a national sample of first-generation college goers: A promising portal for academic and developmental success. American Journal of Community Psychology, 61(3–4), 386–397.

Gunn, F., Lee, S. H., & Steed, M. (2017). Student perceptions of benefits and challenges of peer mentoring programs: Divergent perspectives from mentors and mentees. Marketing Education Review, 27(1), 15–26.

Moschetti, R. V., Plunkett, S. W., Efrat, R., & Yomtov, D. (2018). Peer mentoring as social capital for Latina/o college students at a Hispanic-serving institution. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 17(4), 375–392.

Roberts, N., & Birmingham, E. (2017). Mentoring university students with ASD: A mentee-centered approach. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 47(4), 1038–1050.

Shah, S. A. U. H., Mahboob, U., & Ullah, H. (2019). Perception of undergraduate students about peer mentoring. Pakistan Armed Forces Medical Journal, 69(6), 1227–1232.

Siew, C. T., Mazzucchelli, T. G., Rooney, R., & Girdler, S. (2017). A specialist peer mentoring program for university students on the autism spectrum: A pilot study. PLoS ONE, 12(7), e0180854.

Wright, B., Kuykendall, K., Apsley, J., McCullough, N., Doerbaum, H., Fowler, M., & Lee, C. Y. (2019). Graduate student reflections on mentorship in a training and outreach program for families of children with autism spectrum disorder. Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders, 3(1), 6.