Mentors' Contributions to Gifted Adolescents' Affective, Social, and Vocational Development.

Hundreds of books, articles, and reports have been published on mentoring (cf. Gladstone, 1987; Shaughnessy & Neely, 1991). The term mentor appears to have originated from Homer's Odyssey (Comer, 1989; Porter, 1989). Before embarking on his 10-year journey, Ulysses entrusted the education and care of his son to his wise friend, Mentor. Thereafter, Mentor signified a highly respected and wise teacher who provided intellectual and emotional counsel to younger individuals. Today, the concept of mentoring similarly refers to a learning partnership between two or more individuals who wish to share and develop a mutual interest (Runions & Smyth, 1985b). The mentor, typically an adult, acts as a guide, role model, teacher, and friend to a less experienced and often younger protege or mentee.

Biographical reports, self-reports, and interviews indicate that mentors exert one of the most significant influences on gifted individuals' personal and vocational success. Feldman (1986) and Bloom (1985), for example, noted the critical role which mentors played in the development of children with exceptional talents. Goertzel, Goertzel, and Goertzel (1978) also identified the presence of an influential one-to-one relationship in the lives of 300 eminent men and women.

Gifted students' thirst for knowledge may provide one explanation of why mentors play an instrumental role in the students' lives. Finding a mentor who challenges one to explore an interest may provide stimulation otherwise absent in a student's classroom experience. Many gifted students need to work in a subject area at an accelerated pace and more in depth than provided by the regular curriculum (Christie, 1995). Accordingly, researchers focused on the academic gains associated with mentoring experiences, generally ignoring the significant contribution that mentors make in gifted students' emotional, social, and vocational development.

Interestingly, research has indicated that gifted individuals appreciate mentors' emotional guidance and social and vocational modeling just as much, if not more, than intellectual stimulation. According to Kaufmann, Harrel, Milam, Woolverton, & Miller (1986), Presidential Scholars reported that role modeling, support and encouragement were the most important functions their mentors performed. This finding was unexpected as networking and other vocational tasks are typically regarded as the primary functions of mentors. Kaufmann et al. (1986) indicated that gifted individuals may "prefer a more qualitative, skill-oriented mentorship to one that specifically emphasizes climbing the organizational ladder" (p. 577). Levinson's (1978) and Torrance' s (1984) studies of talented and gifted individuals also provided evidence that proteges value and owe much of their success to their mentors' support and encouragement.

In light of such reports, this review examines the role that mentors play in gifted adolescents' affective, social, and vocational development given their special needs and characteristics.

Affective and Social Characteristics of Gifted Students Supporting the Use of Mentors

Research suggests that differential affective characteristics exist among the gifted (cf. Silverman, 1991; VanTasselBaska, 1991). Feldman, VanTasselBaska, & Seeley (1989) observed that gifted students are often faced with feelings of social isolation and inadequacy due to unsatisfactory interpersonal relationships. Moreover, intensity, heightened sensitivity, and perfectionism are often characteristic of gifted students (Silverman, 1991). Mentors can offer emotional support and serve as role models for dealing with such tendencies that can become problematic. For example, mentors may have identified ways to effectively deal with their own tendency toward perfectionism and can share that experience. They can also help students objectively evaluate and set realistic objectives regarding their talents, which is particularly important to talented adolescents who are often concerned about how well their talents are developing or who may feel the need to mask such talents to gain peer acceptance (Buescher, 1991). Mentors can help gifted children deal with the risk of capitalizing on the wrong abilities (Shaughnessy & Neely, 1991), such as musically talented children who attempted to paint or draw (Sternberg, 1986), lack product-orientation and completion, and experience difficulty translating good ideas onto paper.

Mentoring works for gifted children because their approaches to learning are often nontraditional and misunderstood in the regular classroom. For example, gifted students often interact successfully with adults due to their advanced affective and cognitive development (VanTassel-Baska, 1991). Gifted students typically not only have an increased capacity for relationships with adults but also the ability to learn from them (Buescher, 1991). Gifted and talented students are good candidates for mentor programs due to their ability to work independently and autonomously, and their high level of motivation (Griggs, 1991; Reis & Follo, 1993). Yet mentoring appropriate to highly able pupils differs in important ways from how teachers normally provide instruction in school: "Students in schools learn several unrelated subjects at a time, in teacher-led groups, and in relatively short segments of hours, seasons, and years. Intensive development of a particular talent proceeds quite differently, with individualized, continuous training taking place over extended periods" (Arnold & Subotnik, 1985, p. 120). Mentors may spend several hours to a full work day with mentees, thereby satisfying gifted students' need to immerse themselves in their area of interest (Griggs, 1991), interact at an adult level, and develop their talent, but the frequency with which such intense mentoring actually occurs in ongoing programs is not documented.

Vocational Development

Mentors are frequently valuable in helping gifted children think productively about their future career interests. Shore, Cornell, Robinson, and Ward (1991) concluded that there is strong research support for the need for career education for the gifted, and that this includes good evidence for the differentiation of this provision from career education for all children. Milgram (1991) suggested some of the ways that the content of vocational programs for gifted students should be qualitatively different, for example, addressing why people work, benefits and lifestyles related to different careers, and moral issues associated with certain careers. Of particular relevance to highly able young people are the potential impact of high aspirations, focus and dedication, and the concentrated educational investment they must often make, on enjoying a happy personal and social life as well as a high level occupation. The pursuit of such careers often prolongs the attainment of financial independence and delays marrying and having children. These concerns are especially relevant to gifted children because they, more often than others, follow these types of career lines, and the subject matter is appropriate to their ability to address future and abstract issues at a younger age than most other children.

Mentors also are helpful for gifted and talented learners who excel in multiple areas or who have multiple interests (Berger, 1990; Comer, 1989; Kleine & Webb, 1992). Kerr (1986) asserted that gifted adolescents may have few opportunities to discuss decisions regarding career choices even though students with multiple interests may actually require more information and personal insights from adults who are involved in the students' areas of interest (Reilly, 1992). Although gifted students tend to exhibit extensive knowledge regarding careers and issues related to career choice, this input is often received much later than when it is required (Kelly & Cobb, 1991). Gifted students may feel frustrated and overwhelmed by their vocational and educational choices. Therefore, a mentorship program that offers career exploration may help greatly because the students can investigate a career and its associated lifestyle, reflecting on whether they have the ability and temperament to pursue this line of work. Parents often report that mentors also have a maturing effect on their gifted son or daughter (Berger, 1990) because the students do become more focused on vocations.

High level occupations make particular intellectual as well as life-style demands. They commonly require creativity and the ability to deal with problems that do not have known solutions. Development of these skills benefits from curricular experiences in which students are required to take intellectual risks and direct their own learning (Pizzini, 1985). Mentorships can play a critical role in ensuring that gifted and talented students have opportunities to develop such inquiry-related, higher level thinking skills (Gray & Gray, 1988; Reis & Burns, 1987). One quarter of 56 space scientists surveyed by Scobee and Nash (1983) reported that mentors played an important role in the evolution of their interest, and mentorships were one of their three most highly recommended experiences for students.

Gifted adolescents' special needs for career counseling are often overlooked by school personnel who feel that these students are smart and will succeed on their own (Kerr, 1981). Those who do not receive counseling may allow parental (Emmett & Minor, 1993) or societal expectations (Kelly, 1995) to excessively determine their career paths. For instance, Kerr and Colangelo (1988) found that students who scored highest on the American College Testing had a limited conception of their vocational options. Engineering, medicine, and law were the choices most often cited, suggesting that gifted students are drawn toward high status occupations. For example, some students whose primary interests rested in the humanities pursued engineering studies. Mentors can be a valuable part of an overall career counseling program because they provide a sounding board for discussing career pressures that young people may experience.

The Value of Mentorships For Gifted Females

Successful female mentors serve as role models for gifted females, providing them with the intellectual and emotional support they require (Grau, 1985). Indeed, it is well documented that gifted females often fail to achieve their potential because they hide their potential in order to better fit in with their peers--a priority for most adolescent girls (Bilsker, Schiedel, & Marcia, 1988), and often lack teacher and parent support because as females they are not expected to excel, particularly in mathematics and the sciences (Grau, 1985; Siegel & Shaughnessy, 1991). The impact of a mentor is particularly effective in ensuring that women remain in science (Lewis, 1991; Light, 1990, cited in Subotnik & Steiner, 1992).

Kerr's (1985) research supports the importance of implementing mentorship programs at the elementary and secondary school levels. Although Kerr's (1985) sample of gifted girls initially achieved higher grades and more awards than their male counterparts, by adolescence these females had lower vocational aspirations than the males. According to Berger (1989), gifted females' career aspirations and achievements tend to decline even further during college and after graduation (also cf. Arnold, 1995). Kerr (1991) reported that early educational experience, challenging learning pace, individualized instruction, and mentoring are among the experiences which eminent women suggest as significant in their lives and careers. She suggested that these experiences may interact with one another, thereby enhancing gifted women' s chances of achieving. For instance, the presence of a mentor in a gifted woman's life may increase her confidence in her ability to engage in challenging learning situations. Furthermore, Kerr (1981) stated that the "Single most important commonality in the lives of eminent women seems to be that they fell in love with an idea. Falling in love with an idea means committing oneself to a deeply held value, a theory, or an attitude" (p. 412). Kerr (1991) suggested that teachers and mentors can play a significant role in this process.

After examining the Mentor Connection, a high schoolbased program, Beck (1989) found that female mentees felt more strongly than males that their relationship with a female mentor allowed them to explore concerns they had regarding the task of balancing career and family responsibilities. According to Fox (1979), gifted girls need role models of career women who remain single, of women who marry but have no children, and of those who successfully balance vocational and family commitments.

Reilly and Welch (1994/1995) endorsed the benefit to gifted females of informal or formal mentoring experiences and also highlighted the role of female mentors for adolescent girls. They reviewed the self-reported attitudes of 61 high school students (33 female and 28 male) who participated in a school-based mentorship program. Nearly three times more female than male mentees reported that they made focused career decisions as a result of their mentoring experience. Female mentees also were more likely than males to report increased self-confidence in their vocational and personal capabilities, and developing new skills.

Conclusion

Mentoring experiences can significantly contribute to the emotional, social, and vocational development of gifted adolescents. This may be particularly true in the case of gifted females and for any students interested in science or mathematics. Interestingly, gifted young people appear to rely on mentorships to provide more than vocational inspiration or academic guidance. For instance, they seem to especially value the interpersonal relationship and the modeling. This focus is particularly true for gifted females. A criticism of mentoring for gifted youth is that it may come too late. Since very able youth may start the process of vocational decision making before adolescence, the process of mentoring might need to begin in upper elementary grades and be more closely tied to the provision of vocational information.

Educational challenges. A consistent message is repeated: Gifted students who have had mentoring experiences value them highly, and adults in challenging careers value and recommend mentoring experiences for adolescents. An examination of the mentoring literature provides a strong argument against the myth that gifted young people can make it on their own without special help. They might master the regular curriculum content without too much assistance, but they master life much better with appropriate help. What insights might the benefits of mentoring provide for the curriculum in general?

Mentorships extend the curriculum, and they do so in ways that are valued by bright children, that lead to personal growth, and that capitalize on strengths such as cognitive ability, the ability to relate well to adults, and extended attention span. If conducted during school time they could reduce the time spent on the regular curriculum and provide teachers with smaller groups for extended instruction of pupils who need more time or special help to learn effectively. They could give gifted students the quality time with interested adults that they are denied under the assumption that they need a small proportion of the regular classroom teacher's attention.

The success of mentorships also indicates some issues that schools should address directly, and in appropriately adapted ways for all students. For example, how and on the basis of what criteria can and should one deal with daily or life choices that are complicated by multiple interests or multiple abilities? How can the subject matter taught in school be more open-ended and respectful of the interests, aptitudes, learning styles, and extended attention span of those children shown to benefit from mentorships?

We propose that the most important conclusion to be drawn for the curriculum in general is that gifted students need the input and guidance of adults no less than any other pupil. A serious developmental penalty may be imposed when gifted children are deemed to need less and are given less, an all to common occurrence. The mentoring literature well complements the instructional literature in gifted education by highlighting several ways in which the instructional needs of gifted pupils needs to be adapted, such as providing for extended periods of attention to focused content and building inquiry-guided curriculum around student interests.

In addition, the mentoring literature highlights the importance in educational success of a link between the basically ' academic process of imparting knowledge and skills, and the need to provide guidance toward the life to follow. Curriculum should not be narrowly constructed around "schoolish" tasks, but must also address preparation for life. There is strong concurrence between what students, especially adolescents, value in mentorships, and the priorities indicated by the literature on counseling, especially career or vocational guidance. These are not additional to the curriculum, but are seen by those who have succeeded in life as being essential. This is a challenge to back-to-basics proponents and even goes beyond the foci of major curriculum reform movements, most of which are bound by the domain of their subject matter and do not take the extra step of examining the relationship of the curriculum to general growth. One of the potentially interesting implications of raising this issue is that it may increase pressure to consider gifted children in terms of whom they might become given a reasonable well defined opportunity, rather than on what they may have accomplished to date in the wake of uncertainly defined and probably unintentional opportunity. This would be helpful to the consideration of gifted education as a process of talent development.

Future research questions. Up to this time the literature has addressed the advantages of mentoring versus not mentoring, but not the outcomes of more or less successful mentorships, especially with very able youth. Among the issues still to be explored are possible differences between good and poor--and what the gradations of differences might be on this dimension, long- versus short-term, formally offered and informally acquired mentorship experiences. It would be interesting, for example, to interview young adults about who have been the influential adults in their lives and to qualitatively explore the nature of these influences. There are parallel literatures on mentorships in the studies of personnel management, and in women's studies. These have not been fully explored for the benefit of young people, especially gifted young people, in terms of theoretical context, mentor role, optimal timing of mentorship experiences, or such fundamental concerns as the underlying reasons for preferring one set of outcomes over another--for example, actions resulting in happiness, or other measures of success such as academic achievement or wealth. It would be useful to ask young and older people what they value most positively about their present state and about the role of mentors in their progress toward their adult goals. Cross-age studies would help specify key variables of such research, and both retrospective and longitudinal studies could enrich our understanding.

The specific role that mentors may have in mentees' cognitive development also is still unclear. Furthermore, more research is needed to sharpen our understanding of the ways in which mentorship programs may offer uniquely appropriate educational experiences for gifted students, and what within that or apart from it may constitute appropriate mentorship experiences for all students. Although researchers have argued that mentorships are especially suitable for gifted students (cf. Clasen & Hanson, 1987; Runions & Smyth, 1985a; Zorman, 1993), empirical research in support of this claim could be considerably strengthened.

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Manuscript submitted January, 1997.

Revision accepted December, 1998.

Kerry M. A. Casey is completing teacher certification at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton and plans to attend further graduate studies in School Psychology. Bruce M. Shore is Professor of Education and chair of the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at McGill. His research and supervision interests address thinking processes in curriculum for highly able pupils, and as these theoretically inform the practice of educators and psychologists.