Interpersonal Relationships Intervention and Cardiovascular Health

The purpose of this study is to determine whether random assignment to a mentor-mentee relationship is associated with beneficial cardiovascular health effects in both mentors and mentees.

Participants will be undergraduate students randomly assigned to either being in the mentor or comparison group. A second set of participants will be randomly assigned to either being in the mentee or comparison group. These participants will come from Chicago Public School elementary schools. In total, there will be 125 mentors, 125 comparators, 125 mentees, and 125 comparators. Participants will come for a laboratory visit in which cardiovascular health measures will be taken (details below). Visits will occur once at baseline (before the intervention starts), and once post-intervention. There will be a mid-point assessment of questionnaires. Participants in the intervention group will engage in one-on-one mentoring sessions (mentors together with mentees) once a week after school for the school year. Participants in the comparator group will receive written versions of all materials covered in the mentoring sessions.