A Rapid Review of Wellbeing, Offending & Successful Matching in mentoring for ‘at-risk’ young people

Youth mentoring literature evidences a wide range of positive outcomes, including enhancing psychosocial, behavioural, and academic outcomes among young people. This paper critically examines the evidence for the positive outcomes of mentoring programs in the contemporary literature, focusing on successful matching, offending outcomes, and wellbeing, while also interrogating contextual intricacies. Utilising a Rapid Review methodology, we surveyed contemporary peer-reviewed research in February 2023 using the key terms ’mentor’, ’mentee’, ’at-risk, and “youth” or “young people” or “young person”’. The literature search returned findings indicating that mentoring programs foster certainty through predictability, emotional support, and enduring relationships, leading to successful matching, reduced delinquency, and improved wellbeing. Service design, social and economic context, and young people's agency appear to significantly influence interventions’ effectiveness. In our analysis, we challenge the continued use of the ’at-risk’ label and highlight the implications of these findings for policy and practice. We conclude by arguing that while mentoring offers predictability, emotional support, and enduring relationships for young people, there is continued need to recognise the multifaceted factors influencing mentoring outcomes, rather than allowing the interpersonal service design to individualise social problems.