Influences of mentoring experiences on mentoring practices of faculty in psychology doctoral program

The purpose of this research was to assess whether mentoring received by individuals, when they were students, influenced their mentoring practices, as professionals. It focused on faculty members in doctoral programs in psychology that are accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA). It also explores how the mentor's age, gender, and years since degree was granted, may predict the relative degree of their mentoring practices. Questionnaires were sent to 1,638 faculty members in APA approved doctoral programs in counseling and clinical psychology. They were developed to assess the specific mentoring received by these individuals, while doctoral students, and the type of mentoring in which they were presently engaged. Mentoring practices were separated into ten areas and the participants were asked to indicate frequency of each. A correlation analysis and t-tests were performed. The study showed that years since degree was granted was not related to the amount of mentoring provided. The amount of mentoring received as students and whether faculty members were tenured were both significantly related to the amount of mentoring provided. The gender of mentors and mentees was not significantly related to the amount of mentoring provided. The ethnicity of the two was found to be significantly related to the amount of mentoring provided. Implications of the findings and recommendations are discussed.