Understanding the Leaders of Tomorrow: The Need to Study Leadership in Adolescence

Abstract

Leadership traits and behaviors are observed early in development, and although an improved understanding of youth leadership would provide benefits in many contexts (e.g., education, parenting, policy), most empirical work on the topic has been limited to adult populations. This review emphasizes that adolescence is a critical period for leadership emergence and development, highlighting the need to extend current leadership scientific inquiry to younger age groups. The proposed Leadership Emergence and Development in Youth (LEaD-Y) Framework integrates empirical work on developmental science with insights from leadership science. This synthesizing effort reviews three domains that are particularly ripe for synergy: 1) personality and other individual difference factors, 2) interpersonal factors, and 3) broader environmental factors. The relevance of advancing this framework is discussed vis-à-vis the facilitation and prediction of future leadership processes and behaviors, with implications for other important areas of empirical study in leadership science as it pertains to youth.