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Thepurposeofthisarticle wastoexaminethe effectsofstrengths-basedapproaches in co-curricularandcurricularleadershiponfirst-yearstudents’holisticthriving,academicthriving, social thriving, and psychological thriving. We used propensity score matching and regression analyses with survey data from the Thriving Quotient, which was administered to first-year students at a large, public research university(n = 548). The results suggest students’ enrollment in a strengths-based leadership minor course was associated with higher levels of thriving in social, academic, and psychological domains. Students’ participation in strengths-based student organizationswasassociatedwithhigherthrivinginsocialdomains,whileconcurrentenrollment in the strengths-based leadership class and participation in strengths-based student organizations was associated with significantly higher holistic thriving, social thriving, and psychological thriving.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether students’ completion of an introductory leadership minor course is associated with their first-year retention and their four-year graduation or continued enrollment. The authors used propensity score matching techniques and discovered that first-year students who enrolled in an academic leadership course had significantly greater odds of retention, graduation in four years (over withdrawal), and continued enrollment in four years (over withdrawal) compared to their peers who did not enroll in an introductory leadership minor course.

Integrative leadership theories are thriving in the literature, yet very few studies have explored individual characteristics of integrative leadership and conditions that may promote individuals’ integrative leadership orientation. In particular, little is known about the factors that may promote undergraduate college students’ development of an orientation toward integrative leadership, although many colleges and universities are charged with developing future leaders to tackle grand societal challenges. The purpose of this study was to examine higher education institutions’ contributions to college students’ civic engagement and multicultural competence as well as the relationships between these contributions and students’ development of an integrative leadership orientation. Using a multi-institutional survey of college seniors (n = 5,922), the results of this study suggest institutional efforts to develop students’ multicultural competence and civic engagement are positively associated with undergraduate students’ development of an integrative leadership orientation.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether undergraduates’ participation in 12 different leadership trainings, workshops, conferences, or programs was associated with students’ leadership efficacy. We used data from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership survey, which eight of the Big 10 institutions administered to students in spring 2018. The results suggest that students’ participation in shorter-term or moderate-term experiences—a leadership conference, retreat, lecture/workshop series, course, or positional leadership training—was positively associated with students’ leadership efficacy. We therefore encourage leadership educators and practitioners in higher education to consider the duration of their programs to maximize students’ outcomes.

This study examined the associations between undergraduate students’ socioeconomic background (i.e., first-generation status and household income) and their participation as positional leaders at six large, public research universities. Results from logistic regressions predicting positional leadership in student organizations suggested that first-generation students and students from low-income backgrounds were significantly less likely to participate in positional leadership positions controlling for demographic, environmental, and leadership interest variables.

This paper examined relationships between students’ engagement in community service in different contexts through classes, student organizations, work study, and on their own as well as their development of socially responsible leadership at a large, public, research university in the Upper Midwest. Results from the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership survey distributed at a single institution (n = 1,282) suggest, among other things, that students who participated in community service on their own consistently reported higher socially responsible leadership while students who participated in service both on their own and in a student organization reported higher socially responsible leadership in all areas save for consciousness of self.