Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Publication Date

10-8-1970

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a six-week day camping experience on a group of boy and girl campers. Specifically, this investigation was concerned with the degree of social-personal adjustment and physical fitness changes that might occur in a selected group of boys and girls as a result of a specific day-camping experience.

The design of this study was experimental, involving the nonrandomized pretest, posttest control group.

This study of day camping was conducted at Indian Springs Day Camp in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, during the summer of 1970. The day camp has been operating for the past eleven years and it is approved by the American Camping Association.

The research sample consisted of one hundred eighteen males and females ranging in ages from nine through twelve. Both experimental and control subjects were from comparable socio-economic levels. Forty-eight experimental subjects (twenty-four male, twenty-four female) were enrolled by their parents in a five-day-a­week day camp program. Seventy control subjects (thirty­five male, thirty-five female) were selected randomly from the school district, school, and elementary classes. Control subjects were not exposed to any organized program during the research period.

The California Test of Personality was used as the research tool for measuring social-personal adjustment, and the AAHPER Youth Fitness Test was administered to measure physical fitness. Control subjects were tested at the Oakmont Elementary School. Three days later the experi­mental male and female campers were tested at Indian Springs Day Camp. Six weeks later the control and experimental subjects were retested. An analysis of covariance was computed to test the hypotheses. This analysis resulted in five statistically significant differences. Two of these differences occurred when campers were compared with noncampers in their social-personal adjustment and in their physical fitness index. Experimental campers experienced greater social-personal adjustment growth and physical fitness development than did the control non­campers. The next two significant differences occurred when girl campers were compared with girl non-campers in their social-personal adjustment and in their physical fitness index. Experimental girl campers showed greater improvement in their social-personal adjustment and physical fitness growth than the control girl campers. The last significant difference occurred when the boy campers were compared with boy non-campers in their physical fitness index. Boy campers showed greater physical fitness development than the boy non-campers.

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Physical Education

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences

First Committee Member (Chair)

Frank Edward Papcsy

Second Committee Member

David Herbert Hunt

Third Committee Member

Armond H. Seidler

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