The Right Way to Help
In a recent episode of Freakonomics Radio , one of my favorite podcasts, host Steven Dubner discussed the the findings of a study about mentoring called the Cambridge-Somerville Youth Study . The study separated over 500 boys between the ages of 5 and 13 into a treatment group and a control group. Each boy in the treatment group was paired with a counselor/mentor and received academic tutoring, counseling services, involvement in community programs like YMCA and Boy Scouts, among other things. The boys in the control group received no services but checked in regularly for an update. The initial results were collected and a ten-year follow-up was conducted. More information was collected by researcher Joan McCord thirty years later. McCord was able to track down about 95% of the original participants and combed through records documenting the outcomes of the boys' lives. What had been the effect of mentoring to these men? Nothing. Actually, let me quote Dr. McCord: