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Secondary school advisors as mentors and secondary attachment figures
Author(s) -
Van Ryzin Mark
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.20356
Subject(s) - nominate , psychology , hierarchy , medical education , mathematics education , medicine , mathematics , political science , statistics , law
The teacher–student relationship is vital to student outcomes in secondary school. Unfortunately, the transition from elementary to secondary school is associated with a decrease in the quality or supportiveness of this relationship. In response, some secondary schools implement advisory programs, in which a teacher/advisor meets periodically with a small group of students over an extended period. This study examined whether students (N=209) in two small secondary schools would nominate the advisor as part of their attachment hierarchy. Our results indicated that 40% of the sample considered their advisor to be a secondary attachment figure; further, those that did nominate their advisor reported greater engagement in school and demonstrated greater gains in achievement and adjustment compared to those who did not. A relationship assessment instrument from the attachment literature (RSQ) was found to be more efficacious at predicting student outcomes when compared to instruments used in previous mentoring and relationship research. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.