THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ADULT MALE MENTORSHIP PARTICIPATION IN AUGMENTING MALE YOUTH SELF-ESTEEM AND CONNECTEDNESS

Abstract

The study explored the effectiveness of formal mentorship in augmenting male youth mentee self-esteem and connectedness. Diminished self-esteem and unhealthy relations with age mates can lead to erosion of male youth social capital; these can be mitigated through mentorship by adult males. The study conducted in 2017 at Kiserian Town of Kajiado County in Kenya; employed qualitative and quantitative procedures using a quasi-experimental research design with treatment and control groups of 26 mentees each, from different age and tribal cohorts. A pretest and posttest questionnaire was administered, each immediately followed by a Focused Group Discussion. The items for assessing connectedness had a five point Likert type scale with Strongly agree (SA) = 5; Agree (A) = 4; No opinion (NO) = 3; Disagree (D) = 2; Strongly disagree (SD) = 1. High connectedness fell in the range of 33 – 40 points; 25 – 32 points indicated moderate connectedness; fair connectedness (17 -24); and low connectedness (8 - 16). The Rosenberg’s Self- Esteem Scale was employed in the measurement of the mentees’ self-esteem. ANCOVA analysis indicated that the speed mentoring improvedmentees’ self-esteem considerably by 7.89 points (F(1,49)94.851, p=.001). Further, male youth connectedness also increased by 8.81 points (F(1,49)=181.878, p=.001). The researcher therefore drew the conclusion that the participation of male adults in formal mentoring definitely increased male youth self-esteem and connectedness. On the strength of these findings, a recommendation was made to the Kajiado County government to create opportunities for male mentors to formally mentor male youth.