Motivational Factors Impacting Youth Participation in West Tennessee 4-H

The 4-H Youth Development Program is an organization that is offered through the Cooperative Extension System. 4-H is mandated to provide youth with opportunities for experiential learning in the field of agriculture and home economics. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that motivate high school youth participation in 4-H programs in West Tennessee. The central research question guiding this study was: What motivates high school youth to participate in the 4-H program after 8th grade? The findings of this study can be broken down into three themes (a) Why 4-H members continue participation into high school, (b) Why 4-H members discontinue participation in high school, and (c) 4-H involvement after high school. The following six subthemes were also found: (a) personal relationships and social factors, (b) 4-H prepares students for life, (c) competition and scholarships, (d) negative stigma, (e) not well publicized, and (f) over committed and other activities. Recommendations for practice and future research were made based on the literature and findings.