College Peer Mentoring and Students With Intellectual Disability: Mentors' Perspectives on Relationship Dynamics

Abstract College programs for students with intellectual disability frequently engage peer mentors to promote students' social connections on campus. The qualitative study discussed in this article was conducted to explore, from mentors' perspectives, how mentor/mentee relationships developed, how mentors offered supports, and how mentors facilitated membership into the campus community. Using Pawson's (2004) conceptual framework, mentoring relationships were analyzed in regard to status, reference group, and mentoring mechanisms. Mentors perceived themselves as well-positioned to facilitate their partners becoming college insiders. They used coaching and direction setting to support mentees, and identified factors that appeared to facilitate or hinder shifts in mentee status, including their own beliefs and skills, role conflicts, and person-centered thinking. Implications for supporting peer mentors and refining program theory are also discussed.