| Since the mid-80s the number of African American girls committing juvenile delinquent acts has increased dramatically, exceeding that of boys. Many theories exist explaining the causes of delinquency, yet there is no single intervention identified as successfully combating the trend. While mentoring has been deemed most effective in addressing this phenomenon, practitioners express a lack of consistency in program design, participation, and success. This basic interpretive qualitative study describes the lived experiences of 10 African American female adolescents enrolled in mentoring to address their participation in delinquent behaviors. The results of this study provides practitioners with recommendations for further research by implying the perceptions of mentees should be included in the development of mentoring strategies to achieve program success. |
