How Do Children with Conduct Disorders Engage in Mentoring Relationships: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Early conduct issues or Conduct Disorder (CD) may serve as a predictor for persistent conduct issues throughout the life course. These persistent issues are associated with criminal behavior, intimate partner violence or discord, peer rejections, and diagnosis of comorbid disorders such as antisocial personality disorder or depression later in life (Fairchild et al., 2019). The presence of a mentor, either through a formal program such as the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America or through informal relationships, has been shown to serve as a protective factor for children with conduct issues (Caldarella et al., 2009; Owora et al., 2018). However, the mechanisms through which mentorships are effective are still not fully understood. To explore the hypothesis that a mentee’s perception of feeling seen and understood by their mentor has a protective effect in reducing conduct problems, most likely by modeling prosocial behavior, a mixed methods investigation using measures of social competence and self-perceived social support will be combined with retrospective interviews.