Mentors for adolescents are widely believed to improve life chances and reduce problem behavior. Using 42 retrospective qualitative interviews with undergraduate former high school athletes and social learning theory as a framework, we investigate what it means to adolescents to matter to their school-based natural mentors. Findings indicate that natural mentors represent a fundamental social connection that helped participants feel like they mattered. We identify three structural domains of social identity in which mattering operates: relationship, gender, and athletic. Natural mentoring led to connecting with non-kin, feeling important, and creating accountability to significant others. Mentorship and mattering were deeply gendered; in reinforcing attributes of athletic success and physical or mental growth, mentor relationships both contributed to and helped subvert the structure of traditional gender roles and provide insight into the ways men and women navigate the contested and gendered space of sport. Finally, these mentoring relationships demonstrated the intersectional nature of sport and its physicality by linking the body and soul. Mattering is the mechanism for social learning that facilitates these crucial relationships. The implications of these findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.

中文翻译：

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什么对你很重要：学校体育中的自然导师和自我评价

人们普遍认为青少年的导师可以提高生活机会并减少问题行为。我们使用对前高中生运动员的 42 次回顾性定性访谈和社会学习理论作为框架，调查了青少年对他们的学校自然导师的重要性。调查结果表明，天生的导师代表了一种基本的社会联系，帮助参与者感觉他们很重要。我们确定了重要的社会认同的三个结构域：关系、性别和运动。自然的指导导致与非亲属建立联系，感觉自己很重要，并对重要的其他人产生责任感。指导和重要的性别化程度很高；在加强运动成功和身体或心理成长的属性方面，导师关系既有助于也有助于颠覆传统的性别角色结构，并提供对男性和女性在竞争激烈和性别化的体育空间中的导航方式的洞察。最后，这些指导关系通过将身体和灵魂联系起来，展示了运动的交叉性及其身体性。重要的是促进这些关键关系的社会学习机制。讨论了这些发现的含义，以及对未来研究的建议。重要的是促进这些关键关系的社会学习机制。讨论了这些发现的含义，以及对未来研究的建议。重要的是促进这些关键关系的社会学习机制。讨论了这些发现的含义，以及对未来研究的建议。