Effects of a Developmental Adventure on the Self-Esteem of College Students

Abstract

This study examines the effects of outdoor developmental adventure programming (ODA) on college students’ self-esteem. Although some previous studies have shown that outdoor adventure programming has positive effects on self-esteem, others did not find any effect. A quasi-experimental study was conducted over 5 months, which included two pretests and two posttests to address some limitations of previous studies. A total of 84 participants completed the Questionnaire d’estime de soi hiérarchique, a questionnaire assessing self-esteem on four occasions. The experimental group (outdoor adventure; n = 32) was compared with the control groups (travel, n = 17; soccer, n = 35) using repeated measures of covariance analyses. Positive and significant increases were found for the athletic dimension of self-esteem and for global self-esteem for the experimental group (outdoor adventure) only. The increased benefits provided by the combination of adventure and sports in ODA, over sports-only or traveling-only interventions, underline the importance of developing ODA with college students.

The Wilderness Expedition

“…Post hoc independent t-tests revealed that there was a significant difference between boys and girls selfesteem pre-wilderness expedition (t(122)= 2.96; P<0.01); but not post-expedition. Boys' self-esteem was higher than that of girls pre-expedition, but this difference did not exist post-expedition (Table 2002; Ewert and McAvoy, 2000;Asfeldt and Hvengaard, 2014;Paquette et al, 2014). Existing literature also suggests that the effects of wilderness expedition's increase, and are maintained over time (Hattie et al, 1997;Asfeldt and Hvenegaard, 2014); indicating that improvements in self-esteem experienced as a result of a wilderness expedition could have long lasting effects.…”

“…The restorative properties of the wilderness foster personal, social and emotional growth (Davis-Berman and Berman 1994a, 1994b, 2008Russell 2001Russell , 2006Norton & Watt, 2014), including significant changes in self-esteem, self-efficacy, selfimage, self-control, self-confidence, self-empowerment and decision making (Cason and Gillis, 1993;Hans, 2000;Hattie, Marsh, Neill and Richards, 1997;Russell, 2006b;Hoag et al, 2013;Asfeldt and Hvenegaard, 2014;Paquette et al, 2014). Wilderness settings are also used as part of formal therapy in adolescents, improving psychological functioning and reducing distress related to interpersonal and mental health challenges (Berman and Davis-Berman, 2013;Norton et al, 2013;Hoag et al, 2014).…”

“…educational field trip, stewardship course, outdoor education or wilderness management programme), duration (days to weeks or months) and personal growth focus (e.g. leadership, personal or organisational development) (Dawson & Russell, 2012), but the outcome is often enhanced self-esteem (Moore and Russell 2002;Ewert and McAvoy 2000;Asfeldt and Hvenegaard, 2014;Paquette et al, 2014). Thus, wilderness expeditions might provide an important opportunity to promote self-esteem and nature connectedness in adolescents, both of which are important for wellbeing.…”

A Study on the Effect of Virtual Reality 3D Exploratory Education on Students’ Creativity and Leadership

“…Most researchers defined creativity with the "product" of creativity. Ewert & Sibthorp (2014) proposed 4P of creativity to integrate the research area of creativity and considered to study creativity from the directions of 1.creative product, 2.creative person, 3.creative process, and 4.creative place (Paquette et al, 2014). regarded creativity as the most precious treasure in human brains and the foundation of future and divided it into sensitivity, fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration.…”

“…Richards et al (2013) studied the effects of the exploratory education activity program on junior high school students in gifted classes; researched the effect of exploratory education activity on the promotion of elementary school gifted students; Sibthorp & Morgan (2011) studied the teaching effect of leadership ability on elementary school gifted students; and, Paquette et al (2014) researched teenagers' experience in participating in exploratory activity. The above studies showed the notably positive effects of exploratory education activity on the cultivation of leadership ability.…”