Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1988. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-159). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

No description available.

This research aims to identify core elements of leadership development in children and adolescents. Initial focus groups with student leaders in elementary and high schools suggested key differences in students’ implicit theories of leadership and their identities as leaders. A follow-up survey was constructed to measure these differences. Findings suggest age-based distinctions in students’ implicit understanding of leadership, what constitutes leadership behaviour, who has the capacity to lead, and what kinds of leadership they would like to take on. These distinctions form the basis for a conceptual model illustrating four phases or “stories” of leadership identified by children and adolescents: the task-oriented “helper,” the responsibility-oriented “deputy,” the role-oriented “agent” and the identity-oriented “ambassador.”

This research aims to identify core elements of leadership development in children and adolescents. Initial focus groups with student leaders in elementary and high schools suggested key differences in students’ implicit theories of leadership and their identities as leaders. A follow-up survey was constructed to measure these differences. Findings suggest age-based distinctions in students’ implicit understanding of leadership, what constitutes leadership behaviour, who has the capacity to lead, and what kinds of leadership they would like to take on. These distinctions form the basis for a conceptual model illustrating four phases or “stories” of leadership identified by children and adolescents: the task-oriented “helper,” the responsibility-oriented “deputy,” the role-oriented “agent” and the identity-oriented “ambassador.”

Recreation programs for youth are increasingly being asked to justify their purpose beyond providing fun and games. Stakeholders (e.g., taxpayers, parents, or donors) expect youth programs to develop specific outcomes in young people that will assist them in becoming fully functional adults. More empirical evidence is needed to support the idea that recreational programs indeed provide added educational or developmental benefits. One key outcome that transcends many recreational programs, regardless of setting, is leadership development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate leadership development in a Boy Scouts of America (BSA) High Adventure Program. Two research objectives guided this study. First, the researcher sought to determine whether youth participants in Philmont’s 12-Day Trek High Adventure Program reported increases in leadership measures as a result of their experiences. Based on the goals of this program, the researcher hypothesized that self-reported leadership qualities would increase after youth had participated in the program. Second, the study went one step further to explore what characteristics of the High Adventure Program potentially promoted or detracted from leadership development within the BSA High Adventure Program. The research design for this study was a non-experimental retrospective research design using quantitative and qualitative data obtained from a single sample of participants at the Philmont Scout Ranch. The method of data collection employed a self-administered survey instrument given to participants upon completion of their program. The survey used the Youth Leadership Life Skills Development Scale in addition to two open-ended questions designed to extract elements that promoted or detracted from leadership development. Results from the Youth Leadership Life Skills Development Scale indicated that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean of participant attitudes before the Philmont experience and the mean of participant attitudes after the Philmont experience. Results from the open-ended questions isolated nine emergent themes that participants reported to promote leadership development and four that detracted from leadership development. Overall, this study provides much needed empirical evidence to contribute to the idea that recreational youth programs, while providing fun leisure experiences, can utilize their settings to make an even bigger contribution to the lives of young people.

This thesis concerned with understanding what makes young people as future leaders. It sets out to explore leadership development for secondary school students (12-to-18-year), focussing on what makes young leaders and how they become future leaders. The fundamental purpose of this explanatory and exploratory qualitative study was to investigate leadership development at the age of adolescence. There are three key objectives for this study: (1) to explore and investigate what contributes to forming young people as future leaders; (2) to clarify and understand how young people become future leaders; and (3) to create a multidimensional and holistic framework for developing secondary students as future leaders. These aims were achieved via conducting qualitative in-depth interviews (N=46) with established leaders (N=19) and university professors (N=27) in both the UK and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Additionally, as this study focuses on adolescence, it was important to conduct three focus groups with secondary school students in KSA (N=27). Succinctly this study aims to deepen our understanding of the issue of developing young people as future leaders. This study used multi-levels of analysis and multi-domains of purposive sampling via using maximal variation sampling, both leaders and academics are categorised into six domains (business, education, social, voluntary sector, YLD programmes directors, and developmental psychologists). The secondary school students were selected from government school, private school, and gifted students. Due to the extensive sample gathered (46 interviews and 3 focus groups) and significant data generated (287.000 words), the author’s study produces both emergent themes and abundant numerical results. However, these large quantities can encourage various quantitative studies in the future. There are several key contributions of value in this study; (1) creating and conceptually testing a comprehensive framework to develop young people as future leaders; (2) the theoretical contribution as the qualitative analysis has generated massive number of new emergent themes related to the research questions; (3) analysis of the empirical contributions revealed lots of variables, factors, criteria, tools; (4) a cross-cultural YLD which verify that there are both differences and similarities between the UK and KSA; (5) the findings proved that leadership for young people is learnable to a great extent; that adolescence is a critical period for developing leaders; that sparking the motivation to lead is important at this age; there are serious obstacles facing YLD; generic leadership is more applicable for YLD; and finally, one of the significant contributions of this study is its focussing of attention on a long-term approach for young people leadership development. The further contribution of this study is creating a multi-dimensional and holistic framework for YLD based on theories of adult leadership and intensively reviewing the literature review on YLD. It has been developed via pilot study and finally developed and validated throughout a cohort of stablished leaders and university professors (N=41). This study’s findings can benefit policy and practice to a great extent since it focuses on the secondary school students; as they are the future leaders, this study can be of significant help to the strategic planning of policy makers in the Ministry of Education, Youth Ministry, and generally within the political context, family business. This study inspires me to establish a leadership-based academy, which focuses on high-school students and develops them as national leaders.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Covenant Theological Seminary, 2007. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-115).

Many youth organizations, including 4-H, FFA, and Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), offer countless opportunities for their members to learn and further develop leadership life skills that are important in becoming contributing members of society as adults. The purpose of this study was to determine if Texas 4-H, FFA, and FCCLA members were developing leadership life skills as school tour guides at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. Additionally, demographic characteristics were evaluated to determine which of these characteristics affected leadership life skills development. Demographic characteristics evaluated included gender, age, ethnicity, youth organization membership, years of membership, years of experience as a school tour guide, and previous leadership skills training. The target population was Texas 4-H, FFA, and FCCLA members who served as school tour guides at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. School tour guides referred to the 4-H, FFA, FCCLA members who imparted their personal knowledge of agriculture to elementary-aged students from San Antonio and surrounding area schools that requested an educational tour at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. There were 1,691 school tour guides on the days of February 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 17, and 18, 2004. All school tour guides returning for the afternoon exit-meeting during the 2004 San Antonio Livestock Exposition were asked to complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire was a 28-item survey instrument that was based on the scales: Working with Groups, Understanding Self, Communicating, Making Decisions, and Leadership. Conclusions showed school tour guides had developed leadership life skills. The most influential demographic characteristics were gender, previous leadership experiences, and ethnicity. Females and those participants who had had previous leadership experiences had stronger perceptions of their leadership life skills. In addition, African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and Anglos all had stronger perceptions of their leadership life skills when compared to Native Americans. As a result of this study, the researcher recommends that youth should be encouraged to participate as school tour guides at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. School tour guides had developed leadership life skills. In addition, youth should also be encouraged to participate in other leadership-development activities through other programs to further develop and enhance their leadership life skills.

This study examined the leadership development experiences of adolescents participating in a school-based leadership program. A case study of ten Grade 8 students is described based on qualitative data from student response journals, field notes, and program documentation. Evidence from the study suggests that adolescents value and benefit from leadership development experiences and opportunities. Leadership development experiences that adolescents find meaningful are those where they are: (1) actively engaged in experiential learning opportunities; (2) granted freedom and increased responsibility; (3) able to work in educational groups; (4) given interesting learning experiences; (5) supported by positive role models; and (6) long-term participants. Leadership experiences benefit students by: (1) allowing adolescents to feel like they can make a positive impact on their world; (2) giving adolescents an improved sense of self; (3) teaching students essential skills; and (10) giving adolescents the opportunity to build relationships with like-minded individuals.