Sacramento Head Start Alumni Association

Role Models, Ethnic Identity, and Health-Risk Behaviors

Jan 26, 2002

Does it make a difference when young people have a role model or mentor
in
the real world? Researchers publishing in the Archives of Pediatrics
and
Adolescent Medicine found that having a role model, particularly an
individual known to the adolescent, was associated with higher
self-esteem
and higher grades. For white males without custodial fathers, having a
role model was associated with decreased substance abuse.
http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/issues/v156n1/abs/poa00613.html