New Report from Search Institute -- Teen Voice 2010: Relationships That Matter to America's Teens

This new report examines whether 15-year-olds have meaningful relationships with role models and mentors, and whether their interests and sense of purpose are being supported by the greater society. The report builds on recent work of the Search Institute on "Sparks" (things that interest, engage and motivate teens). The authors developed indexes for measuring complex and somewhat subtle things that may be very interesting to mentoring providers, like "teen voice," and "relationship opportunities with mentors, role models and other supportive adults."

Teen Voice 2010: Relationships That Matter to America's Teens
Best Buy Children's Foundation; Search Institute
Published: July 2010

Some of the findings:

• In order to understand the types of mentoring and support relationships 15-year-olds have, the authors developed a measure called the "Relationship Opportunities Index." According to this measure, only about one in five 15-year-olds has a web of positive, sustained, and meaningful relationships in their lives that support, guide, encourage, and connect with them in positive ways.
• About 2/3 of 15-year-olds don’t have a sustained, high-quality relationship (emotionally close, look forward to spending time with their mentor, trusting their mentor, etc.) with an adult mentor or role model.
• The most common "Sparks" (interests, talents that teens are excited about) are creative arts, sports, and technology. Teens that score highly on the "Relationship Opportunities Index" are much more likely to score high on the "Sparks Index."
• Just 22% of 15-year-olds measure highly on the "Teen Voice Index" which measures leadership, sense of personal power, civic involvement, community engagement, etc.