4-H Members Gain Self-Efficacy Through Public Speaking

During the spring of 2023, University of California’s 4-H program reached out to multiple states to take part in a Public Speaking Self-Efficacy (PSSE) Research Project.  The goal was to survey 4-H members as well as non-4-H members in each state to see what impact 4-H programming has on youth public speaking skills.  Delaware 4-H surveyed seventy-one 4-H members ages 12-17 who had participated in public speaking events at the local, county and state levels.  Delaware 4-H also asked seventy non-4-H youth (ages 12-17) to complete the survey to see the positive impacts 4-H programs have on youth’s speaking skills. Based on the results of the surveys (n=141), Delaware 4-H’ers self-report significantly higher levels of public speaking self-efficacy, mastery experience, vicarious experience, and social persuasion than that of non-4-H members.  Mastery experiences are those situations where a person completes a challenging task or overcomes a difficulty.  Vicarious experiences happen when a youth sees another youth accomplish a task.  The vicarious experience of observing a model can also have a strong influence on self-efficacy.  By observing others like themselves perform tasks, individuals make judgments about their own capabilities. (Del Siegle, 2000).  Social persuasion refers to people who are persuaded by others that they can master a certain task.  PSSE (scale of 0-5) is measured using 12 Likert-scale items.

The following survey results were identified: 4-H Responses Non-4-H Responses

• Mastery Experiences mean:  4.3 3.4

• Vicarious Experiences mean:  4.1 3.3 

• Social Persuasion mean:  3.9 3.1 

The conclusion provided from this survey stated that Delaware 4-H members reported a higher level of public speaking self-efficacy compared to individuals who did not participate in 4-H youth development programs.  4-H members emphasized the importance of consistent practice, gaining confidence through positive feedback, and actively seeking opportunities to engage in public speaking as helping them improve their public speaking skills.