Higher education student leadership development programs have grown exponentially since the 1990's. Over this time, research has indicated that student leadership development programs are beneficial; however, the research on what makes these programs effective has not kept pace. The subjects of this study included students enrolled in three distinctly unique student leadership development programs: a curricular program, a cocurricular program, and an extracurricular program. The purpose of this quasi-experimental non-equivalent group design study was to determine students' perceptions regarding which of the eight elements of the Social Responsibility Leadership Scale (SRLS-R2) resulted in the most leadership development within each of the leadership programs, difference in the change in the leadership development among groups using the eight elements of the SRLS-R2, changes in students' definitions of leadership following participating in their respective leadership programs, and which aspect of their leadership programs they perceived attributed most to their leadership growth. The initial data analysis involved the researcher computing the change in composite mean from the pretest to the posttest for each of the eight scales within each program and placing the change in rank order. The greatest increase in mean indicated the greatest leadership development. For the LeadState group, Controversy with Civility was indicated as largest perceived growth. For the LEAD 210 group, Citizenship was indicated as largest perceived growth, and for the Student-athletes, Collaboration was indicated as largest perceived growth. Analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) were used to identify changes in each of the eight elements of the Social Responsibility Leadership Scale among student groups. There was no significant difference among groups in student perceptions regarding the change in any of the elements of the Social Responsibility Leadership Scale. Qualitatively, subjects' leadership definitions were analyzed. A majority of the subjects' definitions changed; however, themes did not emerge. When indicating what aspect of their respective leadership programs students perceived attributed most to their leadership growth, LeadState participants indicated learning the results of their StrengthsQuest assessment, LEAD 210 participants indicated learning foundational theories of leadership, and Student-athletes indicated participating in actual leadership experiences. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]