ABSTRACT

Evidence shows that self-disclosure plays an important role in developing and maintaining close interpersonal relationships. As self-disclosure remains largely unexamined in the context of interventions based on youth-adult helping relationships, little is known about the effects of mentor disclosure, or the ethics of using this communication technique. In this study, we used self-report questionnaire data from 51 mentoring pairs to investigate the effect of mentor self-disclosure on relationship quality in youth mentoring relationships, and consider the ethical challenges that arise when helping adults disclose to young people. Bivariate correlations showed mentor self-disclosure was significantly associated with relationship quality for mentees, but not mentors. Qualitative content analysis showed mentors were aware of how their disclosure may have ethical implications associated with the age and role-appropriateness of topics, contradictions between their own and the mentees’ family or cultural values, and the potential to negatively influence mentee behaviour. We consider these findings in a context of ethics in youth mentoring to raise questions about the intersection of disclosure, relationship quality, and safe mentoring practice.

摘要

有证据表明，自我表露在发展和维持亲密的人际关系方面起着重要作用。由于在基于青年-成人帮助关系的干预措施中，自我披露在很大程度上未经审查，因此对导师披露的影响或使用这种沟通技巧的伦理知之甚少。在这项研究中，我们使用来自 51 对指导者的自我报告问卷数据来调查指导者自我披露对青年指导关系中关系质量的影响，并考虑在帮助成年人向年轻人披露时出现的伦理挑战。双变量相关性表明，导师的自我披露与受指导者的关系质量显着相关，但与导师的关系质量无关。定性内容分析表明，导师意识到他们的披露可能会如何与话题的年龄和角色适当性、他们自己与受指导者的家庭或文化价值观之间的矛盾以及对受指导者行为产生负面影响的可能性产生道德影响。我们在青年指导伦理的背景下考虑这些发现，以提出有关披露、关系质量和安全指导实践的交叉点的问题。