"It's going to help me in life": Forms, sources, and functions of social support for youth in natural mentoring relationships.

Social Support is associated with positive physical and psychological health outcomes for youth. We took a qualitative approach to examine the sources, forms, and functions of social support youth receive from natural mentoring relationships in their lives. Data for this study comes from interviews of 40 youth participating in a study of youth-adult relationships and natural mentoring processes. Analyses revealed 1) different types of adults had the capacity to provide different types of support, and were likely to provide overlapping supports. 2) Emotional, informational, and instrumental support qualitatively differed depending on the adult's role (e.g., teacher), while companionship and validation was consistent across adults. 3) Youth were able to identify benefits attached to the social support received from important adults. Our findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of aspects and characteristics of effective youth-adult mentoring processes and call for fuller assessments of social support in youths' lives so we may better meet their developmental needs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.