Empowering young people—the impact of camp experiences on personal resources, well-being, and community building

Barbara Blanc, Roger Keller, Esther Kirchhoff

Abstract

Introduction 

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. 

Methods 

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 (N = 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.

Relevance to scouting

Scouts globally can take this as evidence for investing in leadership training, relational support, and caring climates in camps. It provides measurable justification (not just intuition) that well‑led, relationally founded Scout experiences yield psychological and civic benefit.