|
by Paul E. Marsh
The benefits to youth from camping are well known by
former campers, their parents, and camp directors. However, little research
is available on the influence that an organized camping experience has
on youth, mainly because there seems to be general agreement that camp
is good for kids. A recent meta-analysis of the available research determined
the state of knowledge on the influence that the organized camping experience
has on the self-constructs: self-esteem, self-confidence, and other aspects
of self. The results are good news for camping.
Promoting Healthy Youth Development
The development needs of youth have been well defined and include, among
other elements, positive adult role models and a positive sense of self.
Youth development is the physical and cognitive (or mental) growth of
youth between six and twenty-two years old. The constructs of self-concept
and self-esteem are considered to be the best indicators for assessing
this development or growth. Having positive self-constructs is considered
important to healthy development.
Yet, rapid social changes have made it more difficult
for today’s youth to have experiences that allow them to develop positive
self-constructs. Youth and adults interact less frequently because fewer
generations live in the home, both parents often work, and many children
grow up in single-parent households. Neighborhoods are more transient
as well, making it difficult for youth to feel connected to their community.
Budgetary considerations have made it difficult for schools to meet both
the educational and developmental needs of students. A summary of the
research that has been done on camping’s influence on youth development
needs shows that camping can provide an avenue to effectively respond
to these development needs.
Camping Enhances the Self-constructs
The analysis of the available research finds positive and significant
results: positive in that the camping experience does enhance the self-constructs
of youth, and significant in that the result is not due to chance alone.
However, the findings also show that not all camps make a positive contribution
to self-constructs. Only those camps that have a focus on self-enhancement
as a working part of their programs and philosophy actually contribute
to a youth’s development of positive self. Furthermore, campers aged six
to ten benefit more than older campers.
These findings are in accord with current psychological
theory that suggest a positive result for programs designed to have an
influence and a greater result for younger as opposed to older campers.
The significant influence on the self in the relatively short period of
from one to eight weeks, as opposed to several months or longer, represents
an exception to current theory about the length of time required in order
to have an influence on the self.
Focused programs enhance self
From the findings of this study, one can conclude that an organized camping
experience that is focused on enhancing self-constructs does enhance the
self. Therefore, the experience contributes to the youth development need
of developing a positive self-image.
Research shows that a set of socially desirable outcomes
results from enhancement of one’s self-constructs. These outcomes include
easier adjustment to new environments, a greater sense of personal satisfaction,
and personal habits that lead to a healthy lifestyle. If a camp experience
enhances self-constructs, then camp is an environment that parents and
communities should include in strategies that are designed to meet youth
development needs.
Younger campers benefit more
The enhancement of self is greater for younger campers, indicating a benefit
to starting camp at an early age, as young as age six. The positive results
across all ages suggests that camps with a self-enhancement focus provide
for the positive self-esteem development needs of all youth.
The identified development needs of children and early-adolescents
suggest that a positive self-image is desirable. Thus, beginning to establish
this positive self-image at an earlier age would give an individual a
stronger personal foundation. In turn, this foundation would allow the
individual to adjust more easily to changes in their personal environment
and consequently increase the likelihood of the individual adopting healthy
living habits through the difficult period of adolescence.
Camp does give kids a world of
good
The significant positive influence on self in a relatively short period
of time, across all ages, identifies the organized camping experience
as an effective means for parents and communities in order to address
the development needs of youth.
The argument for including camps is made stronger through
the identification of the positive effect as being applicable across the
broad age range of from six to twenty-two years old. Including camps in
youth development strategies is further strengthened through the power
of the camping experience to generate this effect over a relatively short
period of time, ranging from one to eight weeks as opposed to several
months or longer.
Adding Self-enhancement to Camp
Programs
Camps that offer programs to youth that do not have a focus on enhancing
self probably offer the beneficial outcomes that they advertise. Those
outcomes have not yet been substantiated through research, and were beyond
the scope of this study. These camps can enhance their program outcomes
by adopting operational philosophies that address self-development. Camps
that add the focus of self-enhancement are then in a better position to
participate in community strategies that are designed to address youth
development needs. The summer camp program method and philosophy can be
utilized in environmental and outdoor education programs throughout the
school year. The programming and philosophies can also be applied to after-school
programs that address the portion of the day when many youth have unstructured
and unsupervised time.
There are common factors that can be identified in the
camp programs that have a focus on enhancing a construct of self. The
camps with a self-enhancing program provide an environment that is reinforcing
to a camper’s sense of self. The reinforcement occurs through positive
feedback and the general attitude that supports the camper’s identity
as an individual. This environment of positive interaction is established
either by hiring staff with experience or training in development of self-constructs
or by developing this sensitivity during the camp’s staff training program.
Camps that enhance self also provide an environment in
which the camper feels some sense of control over the experience. This
control is accomplished by involving campers to some extent in the planning
or management of their camp experience. The involvement can be as simple
as asking the camper for feedback or input and by responding in a way
that demonstrates that the exchange was taken seriously. A camper’s sense
of control is also based in the understanding of why things are the way
they are; "because" is not a sufficient answer.
Camp professionals whose camp’s philosophy focuses on
enhancing self-constructs can use the positive findings of this study
to generate support from philanthropic and other funding organizations
and to promote to parents the positive effects of camp programs focused
on self-enhancement. By emphasizing the greater positive effect for younger
campers, camping professionals can encourage parents to introduce children
to camping at an age where the child will get the maximum positive effect
from the experience.
In light of the rapid change in American society, the social desirability
of self-enhancement, and the identified development needs of youth, these
findings can be useful to parents and communities that are interested
in identifying experiences that contribute to positive youth development.
Originally published in the 1999 November/December
issue of Camping Magazine. |
