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Parents often encourage their teens to spend less time on their phones and more time outdoors. The general consensus is that time outdoors is correlated with Positive Youth Development (PYD), yet there is actually little research confirming this notion, until now.
Researchers from Clemson University, N.C. State, and the University of Birmingham examined nearly 600 adolescent students to uncover if there was a scientifically significant connection between a teen's time outdoors and their PYD. Their findings were published in Frontiers in Psychology, a publicly-accessible research journal.
Ed Bowers, the lead author for the study, says youth were asked, "In the past week, about how many hours per day did you spend outdoors in nature?" with response options ranging from zero hours to more than five hours a day. They were also asked about their physical familiarity and comfort with the natural world before completing a PYD assessment based on the five Cs (competence, connection, confidence, character, and caring).
The findings indicate that time in nature was most strongly related to youth competence, confidence, and connection. For example, youth who reported greater connection with nature also reported greater levels of connections with families, peer groups, and schools. Bowers added that "Youth time in nature and connection to the natural world are linked to healthy and positive developmental outcomes. When possible, parents and practitioners should therefore encourage youth from all backgrounds to engage with nature and participate in nature-based activities."
This places outdoor summer camps as a top-choice experience for promoting PYD in your teens. In fact, "adolescents who attend adventure programming report PYD outcomes that are 62–65% higher than their peers" according to Bowers.
Outdoor summer camps are especially helpful for enabling teens to:
- Step out of comfort zones: Summer camps encourage teens to try new experiences which develop character and build new skills.
- Develop resilience: Camp challenges enable teens to practice confronting and overcoming fears and anxieties that strengthen confidence and build resilience.
- Develop leadership and collaboration skills: Summer camps provide experiences that require collaborative team efforts to overcome obstacles while building interpersonal skills.
If you're looking for a camp, Utah's SUMMIT Leadership Adventure Camp is the ultimate five day high adventure experience for youth ages 14 to 17. With activities like sailing, rock climbing, and kayaking, teens will learn to navigate unfamiliar terrain with a process that will rewire how they face everyday uncertainties.
Led by Guinness world record holder, Martin Frey—the first person to climb the seven summits and sail the seven seas—your teen will benefit from a camp leader who is dedicated to helping youth achieve their personal summits in life!
Registration is now open at summitjourneys.org/lau-summer-camp for week-long camp sessions during June.
