Gender-Homogenous Mentoring, Spiritual Wellbeing, and Self-Efficacy Beliefs in African American Male Adolescents: A Test of Three Models

Many African American male adolescents mature without the influence of an adequate social model, or a positive, same sex (or gender-homogenous) mentor. Thus, it may be difficult for African American male adolescents to reach adulthood having developed the perceived capability to be successful within specific domains that American society commonly associates with a healthy life course trajectory. A large body of research has suggested that vicarious experience or role modeling is a primary source of efficacy information in a variety of life domains. Research has also suggested that modeling effects are enhanced if the subject and model are similar, especially in terms of gender. The purpose of this study was to examine three models exploring the interrelationships among gender-homogenous mentoring, spiritual wellbeing, and domain specific self-efficacy beliefs (e.g., academic, career decision-making, and social) in African American male adolescents. Findings revealed that self-efficacy beliefs in the specific domains act, individually, as mediators of the relationship between gender-homogeneous mentoring and a mentee\u27s existential wellbeing. The results also indicated that aspects of spiritual wellbeing partially mediate, or explain, the relationship between gender-homogenous mentoring and self-efficacy