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Although youth leadership has been well described within the literature, the dearth of theoretically derived models that specifically reflect ethics and comprehensive nature of youth development still remains. The purpose of this article is to synthesize the existing youth leadership research and theories of personality development to propose a model of youth leadership. The resulting model includes 5 major interconnected components, such as cognitive, socio-emotional, motivational, behavioral, and ethical. As part of the model, ethics is suggested as a core of youth leadership and its development. The model can be used to inform planning of contextually reflective leadership education, specific curriculum and developmental interventions.

Whether they are in a leadership program, participate in an organization, or engage in school-based extra-curricular activities, there does not appear to be a shortage of leadership development opportunities for youth. Despite the prominence of these experiences, the lack of youth leadership development models available for educators can pose a challenge in creating opportunities intentionally designed to enhance leadership learning and development. This study uncovers prevalent leadership competencies embedded in four professional preparation frameworks, three research studies, and objectives of four large national youth leadership organizations to create a holistic youth leadership competency development model.

A successful component of programs designed to deliver youth leadership develop programs are youth educators who understand the importance of utilizing research-based information and seeking professional development opportunities. The purpose of this study was to determine youth educator’s perceived confidence in leading youth leadership development programs. Study objectives included describing types of youth leadership development training received by youth educators, describing the number of hours of youth leadership development training received by youth educators, describing the perceived importance of youth leadership development training received by youth educators, describing youth leadership development training delivery mode preferences of youth educators, determining if the addition of hours of training received and the perception of the importance of youth leadership training improved the prediction of perceived confidence beyond that provided by differences in selected demographic variables (gender, age, years of service, education level, office location). The target population for this study was southern region 4-H youth development educators. Results of this study indicate that perceived importance of youth leadership development training is predictive of youth educator’s confidence level in teaching youth leadership development.

Youth leadership development programs are a cornerstone of many youth serving organizations. The importance of youth leadership development to the core goals of programs is illustrated by its explicit inclusion in program logic models as well as its implicit presence when older youth serve in teaching and mentoring roles for younger youth. The success or failure of a youth leadership development program may be linked to many factors, one of which is the educator who leads the program. Youth educators influence program success in many ways. The focus of this study is to explore educators’ prior experiences as well as their perceived confidence in delivering youth leadership development programming. Given the strong connections between a person’s beliefs and behaviors, it is important to understand youth educators’ beliefs within the context of their prior experiences (Ajzen, Joyce, Sheikh, & Cote, 2011). This study seeks to expand the literature about youth educators’ youth leadership development training beliefs. It has practical implications for developing professional development trainings for youth educators as well as theoretical implications for advancing a deeper understanding of educators’ core beliefs about training specifically related to youth leadership development.

The Teen Excellence in Leadership Institute (TELI) was created to provide meaningful leadership and civic- engagementexperiencestoteens.WeintegratedChickering’sTheoryofIdentityDevelopmentandthe 4-H Citizenship Framework to develop program objectives and a model, consisting of four components: understanding of self, developing a network, community problem solving, and advocacy. This study aimed to determinetheoveralleffectivenessoftheprogram,highlightareasforprogramimprovement,andprovide a proof of concept for the model. Results on select 4-H Citizenship Common Measures indicated statistically significantgainsinthefourcomponentsofthemodelforcohortsoneandtwo.Focusgroupdatarevealed five themes: diversity, connection, skill development, practical application, and learning about self. Evaluative resultssubstantiateprogramimpactandareasforcontinuedprogramdevelopment.

An exploratory, qualitative multiple case study approach was used to investigate perceptions of leadership through the voice of young (ages 18-24) citizens of St. Lucia, West Indies.Specifically, investigators were interested in better understanding the young peoples’ leadership beliefs, experiences, and people of influence. Participants perceived leadership to be about helping other people, communication, teamwork, and morality.The most valuable leader development experiences were experiences that the young people perceived were connected to leadership.Participants viewed familiar adults, rather than famous foreigners or youth peers asthemostimportantpeopletoaidinyouthleaderdevelopment.

A purpose of youth organizations is to develop leadership skills among members through organizational structure and organization sponsored activities. But do they develop those skills? This national, multi-stage study examined the role of youth and the context of their activities in developing leadership in rural FFA chapters. FFA members had a higher level of agreement with statements indicating that activities focused on self-development and the lowest agreement with statements focused on the community. FFA members indicated that in their interactions with adults they were most likely to be treated as partners. It follows that in the role-context matrix, the strongest agreement with statements regarding their interaction with adults and the dimension of leadership development was in developing self in a partnership role with adults. Youth leadership activities should help youth gain skills that help them understand self, interact with others, function effectively in groups, and provide leadership within the community.

Leadership educators must consider how to most effectively develop youth knowledge, skills, attitudes, aspirations and leadership abilities when facilitating leadership development. During the first two millennia, leadership was adult-centered, with little focus on development. To develop effective leadership programs, it is essential that leadership educators: consider the implications of societal trends; project the contexts of 21^st century leadership; understand and apply the principles of effective youth leadership development; and, develop meaningful adult and adolescent partnerships to prepare youth for success in the third millennium.

Leader self-efficacy (LSE) is associated with leader emergence and effectiveness, and is a strong predictor of both individual and group performance. While some research exists related to the connection between LSE and adult leadership, more studies are required to better understand the details surrounding LSE as it relates to adolescents. This mixed methods study examines the effects of a leadership development intervention on LSE in an eighth-grade student population. Results indicate strong support for the effectiveness of the intervention and its potential to increase youth LSE. This finding holds significant implications for educational practice, research, and the future of leadership development.

This research project evaluated outcomes for a leadership development program utilizing adult volunteers who worked with youth to incorporate experiential learning and civic engagement opportunities. As a result, this experience exposed youth to practical skills as well as a chance to develop a sense of community connectedness. This was revealed through the youth developing more positive perceptions toward their role as decision makers in their communities, after participation in the program. Youth also developed more positive perceptions of their relationships with adults. Moreover, when comparing those youth who volunteer at least one hour per week to those who do not, those who had volunteered in the past had significantly more positive perceptions than those who had never volunteered in their community.

Leadership education is a prominent component of youth programming. In their efforts to promote leadership development, most youth programs promote character development and teach interpersonal skills but fall short in teaching leadership because they fail to encourage the use of authority. In this paper, we present the stories of five late adolescent exemplars as a case study of youth leadership emergence through volunteerism. These youth demonstrated leadership by transitioning from participating in community service activities to becoming organizers of their own beneficent efforts. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews with these adolescent leaders, we present themes that were important to their emergence as leaders. We then discuss how these findings should be used to inform youth development programs that are designed to encourage youth leadership through volunteerism.