The present study takes a strength-based approach to understand how young people’s individual needs shape their relationships with significant non-parental adults across adolescence. The analyses drew from qualitative interviews with 27 youth across five time-points (3 years). Three types of youth needs were identified and labeled using metaphors that refer to other prominent relationships in youth lives: coach-like adults were providing help toward a specific achievement or skill development, friend-like adults were providing positive youth-focused companionship, and parent-like adults were nurturing a budding sense of self amid a plethora of life challenges. Each of these sets of youth needs was further examined through thematic analysis and case studies. Implications for future research and models of effective youth mentorship are discussed.

中文翻译：

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利用关系隐喻：非父母成人角色应对青年需求的分析

本研究采用基于力量的方法来了解年轻人的个人需求如何影响他们与青春期重要的非父母成年人的关系。这些分析来自对 5 个时间点（3 年）的 27 名青年的定性访谈。使用提及青年生活中其他重要关系的比喻确定并标记了三种青年需求：像教练一样的成年人为特定的成就或技能发展提供帮助，像朋友一样的成年人提供以青年为中心的积极陪伴，以及父母- 就像成年人在众多生活挑战中培养自我意识的萌芽。通过专题分析和案例研究，进一步审查了这些青年需求中的每一个。讨论了对未来研究和有效青年指导模式的影响。