Does Mentor Support Increase Women's Career Advancement More than Men's? The Differential Effects of Career and Psychosocial Support

Abstract

Based on past research on mentoring, this study examined whether mentor career support helped women's career advancement more than it did men's, and more than psychosocial (emotional) support did. The sample of 3220 Australians, chiefly from the public sector and finance and business service industry, was surveyed twice, a year apart. Mentor career support increased women protégés’ advancement more than it did men's, whereas psychosocial support generally reduced women's advancement more than it did men's. Unexpectedly, female mentors, not males, had the strongest effects, both helping and hindering their protégé's advancement. Mentor support was not related to men's advancement. Why mentoring was differently related to men's and women's advancement was discussed. © 2005, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.