Advisor-Advisee Relationships in Graduate Training Programs

Abstract

Advisor—advisee relationships are an important aspect of the career development of professionals in many fields; however, limited scholarship has focused on these relationships. In the three articles of this special section, the authors attempt to help remedy this situation by articulating a culturally infused model of advising relationships in graduate training. This article lays the foundation for the authors’ model by reviewing the literature relevant to advising and mentoring. In the subsequent articles, the authors propose that it is critical to understand how within-group cultural variables affect the advising relationship. Articulating a framework for understanding the advising relationship as a multicultural endeavor may help educators prepare the next generations of professionals and facilitate increased empirical attention to this important, yet underexamined construct.