Kirchhoff Esther, Keller Roger, Blanc Barbara
Zurich University of Teacher Education, Zürich, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2024 Feb 14;15:1348050. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1348050. eCollection 2024.
Personal resources and resources of the sociocultural environment help children and adolescents to successfully cope with challenges in everyday life, which is associated with better individual well-being. SCOUT, the 'Study on Competence development in OUT-of-school settings', investigated whether participation in a summer camp enhanced adolescents' personal resources, well-being, and readiness to contribute to the community.
The research took place during the Swiss National Jamboree of the Swiss Guide and Scout Movement, a two-week event in the summer of 2022, with a paper-pencil pretest (beginning of the camp - T1) and posttest (end of the camp - T2) survey ( = 607, aged 14-17). Confirmatory factor analyses were used to examine whether personal resources, well-being, and readiness to contribute to the community changed over time, and structural equation models were applied to test the direct and indirect effects of caring support from group leaders on the development of these variables.
In less than two weeks, camp participants demonstrated increased empathy, emotional self-control, optimism, and assertiveness. Furthermore, the adolescents reported more positive emotions, higher self-esteem, and stronger readiness to contribute to the community. Group leaders played a crucial role by influencing the positive development of well-being and readiness to contribute to the community both directly and indirectly through the promotion of personal resources.
The findings indicate that young people benefit not only from participating in collaborative activities in a stimulating environment, but also from caring support provided by their group leaders.
个人资源以及社会文化环境资源有助于儿童和青少年成功应对日常生活中的挑战，这与更好的个人幸福感相关。“校外环境中的能力发展研究”（SCOUT）调查了参加夏令营是否能增强青少年的个人资源、幸福感以及为社区做贡献的意愿。
该研究在瑞士导游与童子军运动的瑞士全国童子军大会期间进行，这是2022年夏天为期两周的活动，采用纸笔形式进行前测（夏令营开始时 - T1）和后测（夏令营结束时 - T2）调查（n = 607，年龄在14 - 17岁之间）。使用验证性因素分析来检验个人资源、幸福感以及为社区做贡献的意愿是否随时间变化，应用结构方程模型来测试组长的关怀支持对这些变量发展的直接和间接影响。
在不到两周的时间里，夏令营参与者表现出更强的同理心、情绪自我控制能力、乐观态度和自信。此外，青少年报告了更多积极情绪、更高的自尊以及更强的为社区做贡献的意愿。组长通过促进个人资源，直接和间接地影响幸福感和为社区做贡献的意愿的积极发展，发挥了关键作用。
研究结果表明，年轻人不仅从参与充满刺激的环境中的合作活动中受益，还从组长提供的关怀支持中受益。
