accountability: a survey

So I was talking with my mom yesterday, and the subject of accountability came up. I was surprised to discover that her experience was vastly different from mine.

So I thought I would ask you, friends, Grovers, random readers: If you have had any experience in the church, or in a "churched" environment such as a Christian high school or college campus, with the idea of "accountability partners," what was it like for you?

I have several particular questions in mind:

(1) Did you ever have an accountability partner yourself, or even a series of accountability partners? If so:
a.) Was it a deliberate arrangement, with both parties agreeing to meet on a regular basis to "be accountable to each other," or did it arise naturally out of a mutually supportive friendship?
b.) How did you select your accountability partners?
c.) Did you share similar struggles, or were your personalities, backgrounds and challenges widely different?
d.) How long did each accountability relationship, particularly of the contractual variety, last?

(2) If you didn't participate in this phenomenon, did you observe it in others? What are/were your observations?

(3) Did you find the "accountability partnership" to be a source of encouragement, support, and joy, or a source of discomfort, discouragement, self-judgment, and despair? Did you look forward to your weekly/biweekly/monthly/whatever meetings as a chance to share joys and progress, or dread them as a time of tallying the good against the bad, with the bad usually winning out?

(4) Do you, if you have some experience with the "accountability partnership," fall into the 12-20-year age group, the 21-30, the 31-40, or the 41+?

(5) What was your predominant religious, or, if Christian (as I'm supposing respondents will generally be), denominational background? Was "accountability" widely practiced, taught, or encouraged by your denomination and/or church, or did you experience it from another source?

(6) Was the idea of accountability important in your family life as a child/teenager?

I'll keep my own experiences and opinions, for the moment, to myself, and follow them up after I've heard from a few people. I do hope to hear from some of my fellow GCCers, since this practice seemed pretty widespread there, and I know a lot of us Grovers came from surprisingly variant denominational backgrounds. But I'm also looking for input from as wide a selection of sources as possible, so if you have something to say, please, chime in!