A Study of Experience and Meaning of Mentors Participating in Intercultural Youth Mentoring Programs

摘要

Youth mentoring programs became popular and have been applied in various fields related to adolescent care counseling work in Korea. In many cases, university students and high school students are preferred as mentors, because they tend to build rapport more easily with their younger mentees. Especially intercultural youth mentoring, as described here, is currently courting increased interest and participation. This paper explores the meaning and experience that mentors gained through their participation in intercultural youth mentoring programs. 16 mentors were interviewed and the interview data thus collected were analyzed to fulfill the above objectives. Findings show that the meaning of mentorship and the comparison of participants’ experiences in intercultural youth mentoring programs between university and high school mentors. Mentors came to open their eyes on children who they had different cultural background and they got positive influences on their life in common to both of them. There are however some differences between the mentors such as the way of thinking about integrity and accountability in mentoring. This study attempted to introduce experience and the meaning of intercultural mentoring participation that mentors came to develop. So, this study is expected contribute to the participation of intercultural youth mentoring programs and further interaction between intercultural youth groups.