Parent Perspectives on E-Mentoring for Urban Youth to Address Substance Use, Violence, and Other Youth Challenges.

BACKGROUND: Increasingly, youth mentoring programs are using digital technologies to support service delivery. Parents are important gatekeepers to their children's involvement in mentoring programs, and programs that use digital technologies may present specific concerns for them. OBJECTIVES: This study examined the characteristics of parents who reported being comfortable or uncomfortable connecting their adolescent child with an adult mentor online to discuss substance use and other sensitive issues. DESIGN: We collected cross-sectional data using an online survey of parents/guardians who were recruited using Qualtrics Research Panels. METHODS: We conducted an online survey of 307 parents of children ages 10 to 17 in eight U.S. cities. We used chi-square tests, t-tests, and logistic regression to compare parents who were comfortable with those who were uncomfortable connecting their child with an adult mentor online. RESULTS: About two-thirds (66%; n = 204) of the parents were comfortable with connecting their child with an adult mentor online. Parents who reported being comfortable were more likely to be male, be White/Caucasian, have higher levels of education, be experienced with various social media platforms, be concerned about their child's aggression, have children with poorer behavioral health, and believe their children were using substances. CONCLUSION: Understanding the types of parents who are and are not comfortable with online mentoring, particularly for issues such as substance use prevention, may allow for better targeting and tailoring of recruitment efforts for online youth mentoring programs addressing sensitive health issues.