Matching should be an intentional process based on the information you have collected about your mentors and mentees through the screening and selection process. Many teen mentoring programs primarily use a one-to-one mentoring model where one mentor is matched with one mentee. An important benefit of one-to-one mentoring is that the mentee gains the focused, individual attention that many children/youth crave and the relationship can be truly youth-centered, because each mentor is dedicated to one mentee. Limited information is available regarding teen mentors being matched with multiple mentees, in a group mentoring model, making it difficult to know what the potential benefits might be¹². In group matches, mentors may not be able to provide as much individual attention to youth as they can in one-to-one matches. Because the quality of the relationship helps determine the extent to which youth benefit from mentoring²¹, group mentoring may be less likely than one-to-one matches to promote positive changes in youth.

 Tips for the Matching Process:

• Assess participants’ interests and preferences via interviews or surveys ahead of time and match youth with similar strengths, experiences and interests.
• Mentees reported higher levels of closeness when matched with mentors of the same gender²².
• Pairing students who already know each other may be effective if their prior experiences have been positive⁶.
• Use a matching process in which a group of mentors and potential mentees interact through activities and discussions, and then decide on matches using your observations and input from the mentors and mentees. After a group interaction such as this, some programs will ask mentees, “which mentor do you remember?” rather than asking which mentor they liked best, to avoid a popularity contest.