Who are the Game Changers? Why We Need to Study Leadership in Adolescence (1 CE)

Abstract

Although leadership research has flourished in recent decades, empirical investigations and theoretical advances have focused almost entirely on adults. The lack of focus on leadership in adolescence reflects a substantial gap, because leadership is a process that begins developing early in life. Many stakeholders (e.g., organizations, parents, policymakers) are highly invested in understanding, predicting, and enhancing leadership abilities early in life. Furthermore, focusing on developmental pathways would extend theories of leadership, especially those pertaining to antecedents of major adult leadership constructs, such as leadership emergence, group effectiveness, and satisfaction with the leader. Thus, devoting theoretical and empirical attention to leadership earlier in the lifespan – and to adolescence, in particular – has a range of important practical and theoretical implications. In this talk, I will outline a potential framework for the empirical study of adolescent leadership that integrates cutting-edge knowledge from the leadership literature with critical insights from developmental science and informs both theory and practice. I will focus on presenting preliminary data (present N~400 adolescent youth) from a study on adolescent leadership—the first of its kind—that aims to lay the groundwork for this new subfield in leadership research.

Featured Speaker for 2022 SPA Convention 

Jennifer Tackett | Journal of Abnormal Psychology

Goals & Objectives 

1. To discuss potential aspects of leadership emergence in children and adolescents.
2. To discuss potential mechanisms by which leadership status is conferred in youth. 
3. To introduce potential interventions for early leadership development.