Objective outcome evaluation of a leadership and intrapersonal development subject for university students

A quasi-experimental study with an experimental group (N=195) and a control group (N=71) was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a leadership and intrapersonal development subject at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender ratio, age, and background family characteristics. Analyses using analyses of covariance controlling for pretest differences between the two groups revealed that students in the experimental group generally showed higher levels in psychosocial competence in terms of a composite variable including resilience, social competence, emotional competence, cognitive competence, behavioral competence, self-determination, self-efficacy, and beliefs in the future. In conjunction with other sources of evaluation findings, the present study suggests that this subject is able to promote the holistic development of Chinese university students in Hong Kong.