Effective Teaching Outcomes Associated With the Mentorship of Early Career Psychologists

Abstract

To date, research has not examined the influence of mentorship on the teaching effectiveness of Early Career Psychologists (ECPs). We sought to fill this void by conducting a national survey of 122 ECPs assessing the presence or absence of three types of ECP mentors (i.e., in their department, in another department at their university, or another self-selected mentor) as well as the successes and challenges associated with working with those mentors. Overall, ECPs viewed relationships with mentors quite favorably, and mentorship was positively related to more effective teaching activities and adherence to model teaching criteria. Implications for future research on the study of mentorship among ECPs and how junior and senior faculty can benefit from these findings are discussed.