Assessment of Leadership in Children, Youth and Adults

Current theories of leadership are reviewed. Eleven leadership measures, six for children and youth and five for adults, are reviewed in the context of these theories and with psychometric standards for test use. In general, the measures are normed inadequately and lack information about reliability and validity. The use of short subscales embedded within other scales, which themselves often are inadequate, should be avoided. Currently, we lack the assessment technology to measure leadership adequately in children and youth. Leadership measures for adults are more promising, especially the Leadership Opinion Questionnaire, the Supervisory Behavior Description Questionnaire, and the Campbell Leadership Index.