Critical thinking skills of selected youth leaders: The efficacy of leadership development, critical thinking dispositions, and student academic performance

The primary purpose of this study was to identify and predict the critical thinking skills of selected youth leaders in the National FFA Organization. Voluntary participants in the study included 212 youth leaders from 50 states. To identify and predict critical thinking skills, we used researcher-developed measures of critical thinking skills in a leadership context, critical thinking dispositions, leadership training and experience, and demographics. The dependent variables were total critical thinking skill level and the specific skills of analysis, inference, and evaluation. The independent variables were age; gender; GPA; leadership training score; leadership experience score; total critical thinking disposition score; and scores on the specific critical thinking dispositions of innovativeness, maturity, and engagement.;Participants scored in the upper range of possible scores on critical thinking skills. Participants were most competent at analysis, followed by inference, and then evaluation. Though not statistically significant, scores for critical thinking were higher for females than males. Age was not a predictor of competence in critical thinking, and critical thinking skills were associated with student academic performance. We found some correlation between leadership variables (training and experience) and critical thinking skill scores. We also found some correlation between critical thinking skills and critical thinking dispositions. The best predictive models of critical thinking skill scores included the variables GPA, leadership training score, innovativeness sum, age, and gender. Recommendations for educators included continued support of leadership development activities and formal leadership learning opportunities; and a call for strategies that promote critical thinking in agricultural education. Recommendations for further research are also included in the study.