“Mentoring approaches show promise in the prevention of substance abuse… Youth mentored through these programs were 46 percent less likely than youth in a control group to initiate drug use during the period of the study (18 months). For minority youth, the impact was even stronger. They were 70 percent less likely to initiate drug use than other similar minority youth who were not in the program. The same pattern was found with alcohol use… were 27 percent less likely than control group youth to initiate alcohol use during the study period. Female minority youth in the program were about half as likely as other minority females to do so.”

—Mentoring: A promising Strategy for Youth Development – Jekielek, S. M., Moore, K. A.,Hair, E. C.,&Scarupa,H.J. (February, 2002) http://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2002/02/MentoringRB.pdf