Informal mentoring between youth and adults in their existing social networks can help promote positive and equitable outcomes for disadvantaged young people. Yet little published research exists examining contextual factors that may impact access to this type of beneficial relationship for under-resourced and minoritized youth. Using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (N = 32,883), a logistic regression model was run to examine the presence of an informal mentor in relation to multiple contextual factors: (1) family resources, (2) economic distress, (3) neighborhood resources, and (4) trauma. Four supplemental logistic regression models then were run testing the same relationship between informal mentorship and the identified contextual factors by race/ethnicity group. Results indicate that contextual factors matter in determining which youth have access to informal mentorship. In terms of demographic factors, there also is an indication that race/ethnicity may be more impactful than gender in determining which youth have access to informal mentorship. Several findings in the sub-sample analysis highlight the unique experiences of Black families versus families of other race/ethnicity minorities related to informal mentoring. By foregrounding a person-in-environment perspective in Critical Race Theory, the present study demonstrates how the social work perspective can be used to analyze various contextual factors of marginalization, while maintaining a focused analysis on the presence of systemic racial-inequities. In addition to these theoretical implications, identifying contextual barriers has important implications for practitioners and researchers creating interventions to expand access to informal mentoring relationships for disadvantaged youth.

青年和成年人在现有社交网络中的非正式指导有助于促进弱势青年获得积极和公平的结果。然而，很少有已发表的研究调查可能影响资源不足和少数族裔青年获得这种有益关系的背景因素。使用来自全国儿童健康调查 (N = 32,883) 的数据，运行逻辑回归模型来检查与多个背景因素相关的非正式导师的存在：(1) 家庭资源，(2) 经济困境，(3 ) 邻里资源，以及 (4) 创伤。然后运行四个补充逻辑回归模型，测试非正式指导与种族/族裔群体确定的背景因素之间的相同关系。结果表明，在确定哪些青年可以获得非正式指导时，环境因素很重要。在人口因素方面，也有迹象表明种族/民族在确定哪些青年可以获得非正式指导方面可能比性别更具影响力。子样本分析中的几项发现突出了黑人家庭与其他种族/少数族裔家庭在非正式指导方面的独特经历。通过在批判种族理论中突出环境中的人的视角，本研究展示了如何使用社会工作视角来分析边缘化的各种背景因素，同时保持对系统性种族不平等存在的重点分析。除了这些理论意义，