Planned mentoring programs, which purposefully link disadvantaged youth with someone older and more experienced, have become a popular means of providing adolescents with adult contacts, counselors, and role models. Mentoring programs vary widely in their objectives, and in the duration, frequency, and intensity of the planned relationship. The quality of mentoring relationships differs enormously. Mentors help compensate for inadequate or dysfunctional socialization or give psychological support for new attitudes and behaviors, while they at the same time create opportunities to move successfully in new arenas of education, work, and social life. Mentoring includes both psychosocial and instrumental aspects. Successful mentoring generally occurs when the older individual is not removed from the mentee by a great social distance; but matching mentors and mentees of the same social class and gender is not the only way to close social distance. Sensitive support, timely contacts, and other appropriate resources are the key factors. Trust is a critical aspect of the mentor-mentee relationship. It is likely that the bonds between natural mentors and mentees are stronger. Planned mentoring is a modest intervention: its power to substitute for missing adults in the lives of youth is limited. Nor can it serve all who need it. Still, it can improve the social chances of some adolescents by leading them to new resources and providing them with much-needed support. (BJV)