Investigating the skills of a preschool leader: A latent profile analysis

Individuals emerge as leaders across the lifespan; however, research investigating early childhood leaders is scant. This study assessed leadership in early childhood (N = 375) by using latent profile analysis of secondary data to examine how skill profiles are related to preschool leader scores. Skill profiles included scores for executive functioning, emotion regulation, imagination, theory of mind, vocabulary, and reception of prosocial behaviors (likeability). Six distinct profiles emerged with variation of high and low skill groupings. Four profiles with higher skill groupings also scored the highest on the leader construct but were not statistically different from each other. These findings support previous research that suggests that leaders may be identifiable in early childhood, and that there may be more than one pathway to early childhood leadership (i.e., differing skill combinations). With further research, these findings may have implications for curriculum development and the selection of peer models in clinical practice.