Impact of national FFA contests on participants\u27 educational and occupational aspirations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Future Farmers of America\u27s National Judging Contests. A correlational design was used in the investigation, with select causal-comparative statistical techniques used for data analysis. The sample consisted of 225 contest participants between the years 1979 to 1981. The sample was selected by systematic sampling and included individuals from all nine contest areas;Data were collected by the use of a mailed questionnaire that was developed by the researcher. Instrument items were validated by a group of individuals knowledgeable in both the FFA and the vocational agriculture curriculum. The instrument was field tested with 100 national contest participants not selected as a part of the sample;Data analysis consisted of frequency counts, t-tests, ANOVAs, chi-squares, factor analysis, multiple regression, and discriminant analysis. Cronbach\u27s coefficient alpha for instrument reliability was determined to be .80, with all individual concepts having a reliability of .90 or higher;The following conclusions were drawn from the analysis and interpretation of the data collected. The most important benefits participants received from their contest experiences were interpersonal. The two highest mean scores on benefit measures were for improvements to their self-confidence and self-esteem. Thirty-seven percent of the participants were found to have occupational aspirations directly related to their contest training. No one contest was found to have a significantly higher proportion of its participants aspiring to related occupations. Females were found to have received fewer occupational advantages from having participated than were males. No relationships could be determined between participant characteristics and perceived benefits received from having participated. Participants most likely to have contest-related occupational aspirations were found to: have lower post-secondary educational aspirations, be less likely to have served as FFA officers, were less likely to have conducted a supervised occupational experience program, and were poorer students academically. All tests were conducted at the .05 level of significance