An analysis of leadership life skills development through 4 -H in the North Texas District

Facilitating youth development is one of the most critical issues of our country and youth servicing organizations. By developing positive leadership knowledge, attitudes, skill and aspirations, today's youth will be better prepared to accept the role of productive and contributing individuals. The 4-H program is the world's largest youth organization. In Texas, the 4-H program promotes the development of leadership life skills in six areas: (1) Understanding Self; (2) Communicating; (3) Relating to Others; (4) Learning/Sharing; (5) Managing and Making Decisions; (6) Working with Groups. The 4-H model of leadership life skills development involves training members and allowing opportunities for experiential learning by participating in trial leadership roles.;The purpose of this study was to determine if this model was effective in leadership life skill development in the North Texas District. 4-H members from eighth grade to age 19 in ten of the 22 counties in the North Texas District were asked to complete a questionnaire of 28 items concerning their perception of their leadership life skills development. Public school students from these same ten counties were asked to complete a similar questionnaire. The sums of the items relating to each particular leadership life skill scale were tallied using the Likert scale responses. The chi-square test of independence was performed for each of the six leadership life skill scales, and it was determined that 4-H members perceived themselves to have a higher level of leadership life skill development at a greater frequency than non 4-H members in each of the six leadership life skill areas. Therefore, it was concluded that participation in 4-H provided more opportunities for youth to learn and practice leadership life skills than non 4-H members in public school. It was further concluded that the 4-H model of training members and offering them opportunities to experience trial leadership roles was effective.