For Youth

For Mentees: the YMS

Understand the Mentee's Perspective

The Youth Mentoring Survey (YMS) complements the Match Characteristics Questionnaire (MCQ) by measuring an age-appropriate range of similar subscales. The YMS measures mentee perspectives on relationship quality and match structure. The subscales are described below. For information about the YMS' development and reliability statistics, please download this information sheet.

What does the YMS Measure?

	Internal Relationship Quality: The YMS reveals how mentees experience and engage with their matches.
	Structure: The YMS measures structure as focus, with three scales asking youth how much match activities focus on fun and sharing versus activities that foster their growth.

Subscales of the Youth Mentoring Survey

Internal Relationship Quality Subscales

	Relational Quality, how mentees experience and engage with relational aspects of the match
	Instrumental Quality, how mentees experience and engage with growth-oriented aspects of the match
	Prescription, how much mentees feel their mentors focus too much on growth.

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Focus Subscales

Fun, how much mentees feel that match activities focus on hanging out and having fun

Sharing, how much mentees feel that match activities focus on talking and sharing emotionally

Growth, how much mentees feel that match activities focus on academics, future outlook, or character development

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Versions of the Youth Mentoring Survey (YMS) for younger mentees

The YMS is written in language that is most appropriate for mentees in third grade and older. It has been used with younger students, but they tend to require more support and to more frequently have difficulty with the survey. ARC has recently developed briefer and simpler versions of the YMS for use with younger mentees. While the new versions do not yet have the degree of validity evidence as the original version, preliminary findings indicate that they are useful tools. Please contact ARC if you are interested in using beta versions of the YMS for younger students.

Learn more about the Match Characteristics Questionnaire (MCQ)

Click here to learn more about the MCQ.