Relations between junior 4-H enrollment and selected characteristics of Tennessee's county 4-H extension programs

The study was concerned with the problem of decreasing county junior 4-H enrollment in Tennessee. It was designed to determine the association between selected variables concerning county 4-H programs and the total junior 4-H enrollment. More specifically, the major purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the relations between the total number of junior 4-H members enrolled per county and selected variables concerning 4-H leadership, organization, participation, enrollment-related, place of member residence, and number of Extension staff member per county, and (2) to determine which of the six groups of county 4-H programs or independent variables (i.e., 4-H leadership, organization, participation, enrollment-related, place of residence, and number of Extension staff per county variables) accounted for the largest percent of variation in the number of junior 4-H members per county.

Data were obtained from the 1965-67 Tennessee 4-H Club Enrollment Reports and the 1960 Census of Population for Tennessee Counties. Twenty-one county 4-H program variables and six junior 4-H enrollment variables were studied. The zero order correlation coefficient (r) and the multiple correlation coefficient (R) were used to analyze the data.

Correlation analysis revealed that the number of junior 4-H members enrolled in Tennessee’s 95 counties tended to increase when there was an increase in the number of (1) adult 4-H leaders; (2) junior 4-H leaders; (3) 4-H all star numbers; (4) 4-H honor club members; (4) basic four 4-H organizations; (5) 4-H clubs; (6) members attending 4-H camp; (7) members participating in judging; (8) potential junior 4-H members; (9) junior 4-H members residing on rural non-farms; (10) Extension agents, and (11) full-time Extension 4-H staff equivalent. It was also revealed that each of these eleven variables tended to decrease with an increase in the percent of potential junior 4-H members enrolled full-time Extension 4-H staff equivalent.

Multiple correlation analysis disclosed that: (1) of the six 4-H leadership variables suited, the number of junior 4-H leaders per county accounted for the largest percent of variation (42.6 percent) in the number of junior 4-H members per county; (2) of the four 4-H organization variables studied, the number of 4-H clubs per county accounted for the largest percent of variation (69 percent) in the number of junior 4-H members per county; (3) of the three 4-H participation variables studied, the number of 4-H members participating in 4-H camp accounted for the largest percent of variation (32.0 percent) in the number of junior 4-H members enrolled per county; (4) of the three places of 4-H member resident variables, the number 4-H members residing on rural nonfarms accounted for the largest percent of variation (59.0 percent) in the number of junior 4-H members enrolled per county, and (5) of the two number of Extension 4-H staff variables, the number of full-time Extension 4-H staff equivalent per county accounted for the largest percent of variation (54.0 percent) in the number of junior 4-H members enrolled per county.