Mentoring, competencies, and adjustment in adolescents: American part-time employment and European apprenticeships

Based on the conceptual argument that the European apprenticeship might explain cross-national variability in adolescent adjustment, the current investigation tested the relationships between mentoring experiences, namely joint activities with mentors as well as perceived mentoring behaviors by unrelated adults in the work setting, and measures of both psychosocial competencies (job skills, self esteem, and well-being) and measures of adjustment (alcohol use, drug use, and deviance). Data were collected from n = 2735 Swiss apprentices and n = 368 U.S. part-time employees who attended high school. Findings provide evidence that perceived mentoring behaviors by unrelated adults in the work setting in both developmental contexts were associated with both psychosocial competencies and adjustment indicators. Contrary to the idea that the European apprenticeship may provide a unique "protective" developmental experience for youth in comparison with U.S. adolescents who work part-time, adolescents in both contexts benefited equally from good mentoring experiences.