Will mentors and mentees fitting based on character similarity yield a better connection?

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of matching mentor-mentee pairs based on deep-level similarity in personality traits, such as openness to experience and conscientiousness, on the strength of their relationships after 3 months of personal connection compared to pairs that are not matched based on this trait. To address this question, we recruited mentors and mentees from "Ach Gadol", a big brother organization for lone soldiers in the Israeli Defense Forces, and matched them using SBNP-model according to the results of the Big-5 personality test and the organization’s usual surface-level similarity criteria. We then assessed the strength of their relationships using the Strength of Relationship (SoR) scale after 3 months. We compared the control group and experimental group, individually and as pairs (both with 18 pairs each), based on the results of the SoR assessments.

The results showed mixed findings when analyzing soldiers. While the t-test did not reveal a significant difference in relationship strength between the matched and nonmatched mentees, the permutation test found a significant difference. The conflicting results suggest the need for further research with a larger sample size to clarify the impact of such matching. Additionally, the results for the other groups (pairs and big brothers) did not reach statistical significance, though there was a trend towards higher relationship strength scores in the experimental group compared to the control group.

There are several limitations to our study, including a small sample size and a short follow-up. Despite these limitations, our findings suggest that organizations like "Ach Gadol" may benefit from considering deep-level similarity in personality traits when matching mentor-mentee pairs. Further research is needed to explore the long-term effects of this approach and to determine if these findings can be replicated in other mentoring contexts