Adolescents Relationships with Very Important, Non-Parental Adults (Vips): a Cross-Cultural

21294 Adolescents’ Relationships with Very Important, Non-Parental Adults (VIPs): A Cross- Cultural Perspective Bernadeth Torres Mentor: Chuansheng Chen ”Very important, non-parental adults” (also known as VIPs) are older individuals (at least twenty- one years old) who serve as both friends and mentors to adolescents. Although past studies have observed the positive benefits adolescents receive from these relationships, few studies have actually examined whether these relationships vary across ethnic groups. For this project, four different ethnic groups were compared—African Americans, Asians, Latinos, and Caucasians— using a longitudinal dataset, collected in 2002 and 2003. The participants were adolescents who have attended one of four schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Results showed that VIP characteristics and their associations with adolescent outcomes varied across ethnic groups. For example, compared to other ethnic groups, Asian adolescents in particular were greatly affected by their VIPs’ warmth and problem behaviors. Implications for further research will be discussed.