This CLR has gone into depth about barriers that Latina students face while attaining a college education. Common themes include feelings of alienation, financial barriers, cultural disconnect, and a lack of support and mentorship. The following will review research and best practices for mentoring Latina students. Latinas have the lowest graduation and retention rates. While there are suggested practices, much work in research and updating Latina-based best practices is needed.
In the article from Crisp and Cruz (2009) it is stressed that mentorship and support are highly important. Their overall findings suggest that strong support is linked with persistence. These support and mentoring systems must include psychological as well as emotional support. The article mentions that deliberate support is crucial, as is providing relationships that include listening, problem solving, encouragement, and a mutual understanding (Crisp, & Cruz, 2009).
In the article, mentoring is defined as “a formalized process whereby a more knowledgeable and experienced person actuates a supportive role of overseeing and encouraging reflection and learning within a less experienced and knowledgeable person, so as to facilitate that persons’ career and personal development” (p. 162). For further explanation, Crisp and Cruz mention mentoring as behaviors that include befriending, counseling, coaching, and tutoring. One of the most beneficial strategies discussed in this article is mentoring as a deliberate effort to provide support to minority students, both formally and informally, through frequent contact and interaction with mentors (Crisp, & Cruz, 2009).
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Borderes, Arredondo, Kurpius, and Rund (2011) discuss the importance of social support on campus as an important factor for Latina students in higher education. They found that social support was a predictor in persistence decisions for these students. Student who felt isolated on campus and had no support, specifically first generation college students, showed a lack of academic persistence decisions. Previously discussed in this CLR were the feelings of isolation and alienation that Latina students face while in college.
It would benefit the universities that wish to retain these students to establish mentoring and support systems, along with intervention and formal mentoring programs so that these students can succeed. Universities can implement programs that aim to provide resources and services to Latina students at risk. Studies have found that “having a mentor or perceiving that someone on campus cared about one’s academic success was strongly related to staying in school” (p. 359). Studies have revealed that the higher the degree of integration of the student to the university, the greater the commitment to complete their academic goals.
Social systems, such as mentoring and faculty interaction, also contribute to academic persistence (Bordes, Arredondo, 2005. p. 118). The research also shows that having mentors can alleviate and help reduce stressors that have to do with being in a minority group (p. 121). While having mentors of the same racial minority group contributed to the sense of trust and familiarity, the fact of just having a mentor to confide in made the difference for the Latina student (p. 121).
Capello (1994) discusses Latina students arriving to college with few to no role models to emulate. With many Latina students being the first in their family to attend college, they have no one to ask for advice or to help them navigate their college journey. This research touches on difficulties that Latinas face such as time management, feeling loss of friends, alienation, and low self-worth from being in a society that devalues people based on the color of their skin (p. 31).
Capello suggests strategies such as helping Latina students understand their culture and history by spending time discussing traditions, values, historical significance, and sharing from mentors of the same ethnic group so that they can emulate successes and share and discuss similarities. Capello (1994) also suggests reading works from Latina writers so that they can gain further knowledge about their role models, along with debunking stereo types. These suggestions can be implemented by universities to be used by mentors and faculty when interacting with students.
While universities are making efforts to give access to Latina students, retention and graduation rates reveal that enough is not being done to keep students enrolled and continuing towards completion of their degree. According to Gloria and Rodriguez (2000), Latinos have the lowest educational achievement of all ethnic groups. According to research, Mexican Americans only account for 5% of college completion rates (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000).
Latinos have educational aspirations, however there is a deficit in their ability or desire to persist. Part of the problem that Gloria and Rodriguez (2000) discuss is lack of cultural congruity, non-supportive university environments, educational stereotypes, financial and socioeconomic issues, and lack of mentors (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000). Another factor to take into account is the fact that university reporting agencies do not report reasons such as racial/ethnic minority students not feeling welcomed or appreciated on white-dominated campuses (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000).
Gloria and Rodriguez (2000) suggest that Latina/o students should not be compared to white students when evaluating their behaviors or values. White culture should not be used as a reference point when counseling or providing intervention for Latino students. Latina/o culture should be addressed on its own, and cultural congruity incorporated when it comes to providing services for Latina students. That way counselors and mentors can act as agents of change when addressing the Latina student.
Gloria and Rodriguez (2000) discuss mentorship as a predictor of Latina students’ academic success and academic persistence. They also mention that mentorship helps the students better adjust to college. Gloria and Rodriguez also mention that having mentorship in their academic careers buffers them from negative influences and stressful environments. For the Latino group, family has great value. In most cases the needs of the family group is more important than their own needs.
Mentors who are knowledgeable about Latino culture can best provide this type of relationship and outlet, mentoring relationships based on trust. Failure to expand their knowledge of Latina culture can lead to resistance when mentoring this population. Latina students may seek to terminate the mentor relationship due to lack of identification with their culture. Since role models and mentors serve as primary sources of social support, it is imperative for these mentoring relationships to intentionally be available so that it can provide Latinos with an increase of persistence to succeed (Gloria & Rodriguez, 2000).
While it is important to have role models and mentors, Gloria and Rodriguez (2000) discuss the lack of role models and mentors as a primary reason for Latino studetns’ non persistence in college. Research reveals older Latino students are mentoring younger students, because institutions lack mentors for this population. Those students who persist may have received mentoring from outsiders, rather than from campus personnel and institution mentorship. Although outsiders and older Latino students are attempting to close the gap for this population, the lack in graduation and retention rates for this population, shows that an overhaul on mentoring strategies and mentoring policies is needed.
Gloria and Rodriguez (2000) discuss and recommend “counselor awareness of own cultural values and biases, counselor awareness of clients’ worldview, and culturally appropriate intervention strategies” (p. 151). They also call for more research on culturally appropriate counseling approaches for this ethnic population and qualitative investigations to study Latinos’ points of view. Such research can help to assess services that are being provided when counseling Latina/o students. Gloria and Castellanos (2012) mention that “in addition, connection to a university family, who are often comprised of student peers, faculty, and university staff, is central to Latina/o students’ sense of self efficacy and ability to succeed” (p. 93). It is clear that intentional involvement of mentors in a student’s academic education career is critical to the success of the Latina student.
In their article, Luna and Prieto (2009) discuss the importance of mentoring as being an extension of family for the Latina/o student. They mention that the positive interactions that Latina/o students have with faculty, and mentors, assists them to feel more at ease. The students in the study mention that by having these mentoring relationships, they did not feel as intimidated to reach out to people. They felt unafraid to approach certain people who seemed unapproachable before. The students also felt they could discuss and consider aspirations such as graduate school. While many Latina/o students lack the role models at home, since they may be first generation college students, deliberate mentorship can be the stepping stone that these students need to feel self-efficacy and to give them the sense of persistence they need to succeed.
In their research, Luna and Prieto (2009), studied the outcomes of intentional mentorship. The study included investigating student outcomes when participating in a mentoring program. Only Latina/o students were involved in the study. The study’s purpose was to investigate how university faculty and administrators can keep underrepresented students in college.
An analysis of the study revealed the importance of mentoring experiences for Latina/o students in higher education. The results also revealed two overarching themes: the need for further education for the communities’ responsibility and the role mentoring plays in the solution of helping this population of students succeed in higher education (Luna & Prieto, 2009). Benefits of participating in the mentoring program for this study included students feeling a greater expansion in their networks of faculty and self-empowerment (Luna & Prieto, 2009).
As important as mentoring is for Latinas’ success in higher education, it is also important for Latina students to have leadership role models to help them establish self-efficacy. Hunter (2012) mentions a quote from Badura (1997) which states, “how people behave can often be predicted by the beliefs they hold about their capabilities…these perceptions help determine what individuals do with the skill and knowledge they have” (p. 321).
Self-efficacy is not only concerned with the skills you have but rather with what one perceives they can do with their skills under different circumstances (Hunter, 2012). In a study of executive leadership in academic leadership, the participants in the study mentioned that role models, along with positive influences, were crucial for their leadership success (Hunter, 2012). The study mentioned that Latina leaders acquainted verbal encouragements and reinforcements as a great help for them to recognize and utilize the talents they possessed (Hunter, 2012).
In a study by Gloria, Castellanos, and Rosales (2005), the results of their research concluded that family and friend support is important for the Latina/o student population in higher education. While it is important for the students to have family support, this type of support can be mimicked by mentors in a college setting. The study revealed that having a positive perception of the campus environment gave the students a strong sense of perceived mentorship (Gloria, Castellanos, & Rosales, 2005). They found that perceived support from family, friends, and mentors gave them a strong sense of confidence, as well as a strong sense of self-efficacy.
Latina students who have mentors, confidence, and a strong sense of self-efficacy while in a college setting are more inclined to persist and complete their degrees (Gloria, Castellanos, & Rosales, 2005). Students’ perceptions that someone, such as a mentor, believes that they can succeed is an important factor in students believing in themselves and deciding to persist (Gloria, Castellanos, & Rosales, 2005).
