What Research Says About Leadership Skills in Children

Quick answer

Research on leadership in children and young people is less developed than research on social-emotional learning or self-regulation. Most published work consists of conceptual models and reviews of programmes, often with older adolescents and young adults, rather than strong causal meta-analyses in 8–14-year-olds. These sources describe youth leadership as a set of learnable components — such as communication, decision making, responsibility and working with others — built through authentic opportunities to act. Parents can reasonably support those components, but no evidence shows that a leadership course reliably makes a child a leader.

What leadership means in research terms

Youth leadership is usually described not as a personality type but as a process: gaining knowledge and skills, then applying them in real roles with support. Redmond and Dolan's conceptual model emphasises skill development, authentic action and context. UNICEF's life-skills guidance lists related skills — communication, decision making, agency and setting realistic goals.

What researchers have studied

What researchers studied

Karagianni and Montgomery (2017) reviewed leadership programmes for adolescents and young adults. Redmond and Dolan proposed a conceptual model of youth leadership development. Whitehead (2009) reviewed adolescent leadership literature. Curran and Wexler systematically reviewed school-based positive youth development programmes.

What they found

Reviews describe programmes that report gains in leadership-related skills, but study designs are varied and often weak for causal conclusions. Conceptual work identifies skills, authentic opportunities and supportive adults as recurring elements.

What parents can reasonably conclude

Giving children real, supported responsibilities and practice with communication and decisions is a reasonable approach.

What cannot be concluded

The evidence does not show that leadership training causes children to become leaders, or that results from young adults apply to 8–14-year-olds.

What higher-quality evidence suggests

There is no large meta-analysis of randomised trials of leadership programmes for children aged 8–14 in these sources. The stronger evidence for the component skills sits elsewhere, in research on communication, social skills and self-regulation, which is why this page links to those syntheses.

What the research does not prove

• It does not prove that leadership courses create leaders.
• Leadership does not mean being loud, bossy or always in charge; quieter children can lead.
• Findings from young adults cannot be applied directly to children.
• It does not show that LeadXkids courses develop leadership.

Practical implications for children aged 8–14

• Offer small, real responsibilities: planning a family outing or leading a group task.
• Practise the component skills: listening, speaking up, deciding and sharing credit.
• Debrief afterwards: what went well for the group, what would you change?
• Value different leadership styles, including quiet and supportive ones.

How LeadXkids approaches leadership

LeadXkids treats leadership as everyday skills rather than a title. Story characters face moments such as being heard in a group, speaking up or making a fair decision, and children choose responses, reflect and plan one real action. This describes how the product is designed. The studies on this page did not evaluate LeadXkids, and they do not show that LeadXkids courses produce these outcomes.