This study examines junior officers at the United States Naval Academy, and their commitment to mentor midshipmen. Survey data are reported from 148 Navy Lieutenants and Lieutenant Commanders and Marine Corps Captains and Majors, stationed on the Naval Academy yard. The purpose of this study was to better understand the mentoring experiences, dispositions, and motivations among junior officers at the Naval Academy and identify how previous mentorship experience, prosocial behaviors, and personal (versus instrumental) motives relate to junior officer willingness to mentor Naval Academy midshipmen. The study concludes that helping others and benefiting the organization appear to be the distinguishing sources of motivation for junior officers who choose to mentor. Additionally, it finds that a junior officer’s willingness to mentor and their levels of other-oriented empathy are associated with whether or not they chose to mentor. Lastly, this study reports that junior officers who were familiar with mentorship, and had previously been mentored in the fleet chose to mentor midshipmen at a much higher rate than their peers who were never protégés to a mentor.
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