A study measured the impact that the 4-H experience has on the quality of life of young people. Data were collected from 5th, 7th, and 9th grade students in Idaho. Students were selected from four randomly selected schools in each of the 16 randomly selected counties across the state. There were 3,601 surveys returned from 53 schools. Youngsters who have participated in 4-H for 2 years or more are less likely to engage in "at-risk" behaviors such as drinking alcohol, shoplifting, drug use, damaging property, or smoking cigarettes than their non- 4‑H classmates.
Goodwin et al. (Mon,) studied this question.