4-H Youth are future leaders. Skills learned in 4-H like time management, public speaking, and responsibility help develop youth to be active members of our community. Research has shown the positive results from youth development.
Research carried out by Lerner & J. Lerner at the Institute for Applied Research in Youth Development, Tufts University illustrates the benefits of 4-H. In their research titled: Report Of The Findings from the First Seven Years of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development the researchers found:
- 4-H youth are 3 times as likely as youth in other programs to have higher scores for Contribution.
- 4-H youth are 1.6 times as likely to have higher scores for Positive Youth Development.
- 4-H youth are 2.1 times more likely than other youth to make contributions to their communities. These same youth are also 1.8 times more likely to have higher scores on measures of active and engaged citizenship.
Education:
- 4-H participants are 1.5 times as likely as youth in other programs to report high academic competence and 1.7 times as likely as youth in other programs to report high engagement in school.
Healthy Living:
- 4-H participants are 1.6 times as likely as other youth to report healthy habits and 2.4 times as likely to delay sexual intercourse. They are less likely than youth in other programs to engage in delinquent behaviors by Grade 11.
Science:
- 4-H participants are 1.6 times as likely as youth in other programs to participate in science, engineering, or computer technology programs.
- 4-H participants are 1.4 times as likely as youth in other programs to plan to pursue a career in science. 4-H girls are 1.4 times as likely as girls in other programs to plan to pursue a career in science.
The benefits of 4-H are many so get involved with Benton County 4-H! Join a Club, Volunteer, Donate