Natural Mentoring, Academic Motivation, and Values Toward Education Among Latinx Adolescents.
We examined the roles of relational and instrumental relationship quality with natural mentors and academic intrinsic motivation on Latinx adolescents' perceived economic values of education. Participants were 256 Latinx youth (M 15.07 years old; 116 boys, 140 girls) who completed surveys in 9th and 10th grades. Path analyses indicated significant cross sectional effects in 9th grade such that instrumental quality was associated with more perceived benefits of education, and relational quality was associated with fewer perceived limitations of education. Neither instrumental nor relational quality in 9th grade was associated with either benefits or limitations of education in 10th grade. Instrumental relationship quality in 9th grade, however, did have an indirect effect on perceived benefits of education in 10th grade through intrinsic motivation. Implications for research on natural mentoring with Latinx adolescents are discussed.
American journal of community psychology