Lessons From the Field: Graduate Student-Faculty Mentoring in Family Science

Objective We examine research related to effective mentoring relationships for graduate students. Background Graduate mentoring, comprising educational, professional, and psychosocial development, plays a crucial role in graduate students' successful completion of their degrees. Effective mentor relationships can increase academic satisfaction, increase retention, keep graduate students on time to graduate, and have positive influences on future career goals. Methods We conducted a literature review of 14 articles to examine graduate mentoring and make recommendations for family science graduate education. Results Five major themes emerged: aspects of effective mentorships, choosing a mentor, characteristics of a successful mentor, diverse graduate students, and online mentoring. Conclusions We discuss future research suggestions including the need for research on discipline-specific mentoring and the call for more writings on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Implications These findings have implications for family science as organizations create mentoring approaches, universities increase remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, and diversity remains important in the field.