Peaks and Valleys: A Two-year Study of Student Leadership Capacity Associated with Campus Involvement

Abstract

This study followed 134 university students within a national sample for one or two years, from their initial participation in a LeaderShape Institute session. We examined the shape of their trajectories of leadership growth over this course of time, with particular focus on development long after the session had ended. We also investigated the degree to which additional formal leadership development opportunities statistically predicted leadership development. Results indicated a typical non-linear shape to development and suggested that most formal experiences, as a whole, possess little association with leadership growth when controlling for other experiences associated with leadership development in students.