Running header: CIT Program HOW A SUMMER CAMP COUNSELOR-IN-TRAINING PROGRAM MAY FOSTER RESILIENCE AND SELF-EFFICACY IN ADOLESCENT BOYS AN ABSTRACT SUBMITTED ON THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MARCH 2013 TO THE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN THE DEPARTMENTS OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY AND THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS OF TULANE UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY __________________________________________ BRADLEY S. PHILIPSON APPROVED: __________________________________________ PROF. J. MAXWELL (DIRECTOR) __________________________________________ PROF. S. DU __________________________________________ PROF. A. TRUITT __________________________________________ PROF. M. CUNNINGHAM __________________________________________ DEAN R. MARKS ABSTRACT Over the yearS, a number of quantitative StudieS have attempted and failed to capture the poSitive pSychological growth that comeS from participation in outdoor adventure education, as well as the precise source of that growth. The logical concluSion from thiS iS either that Such growth iS an illuSion, Such growth can’t be meaSured, or that the StudieS were in Some way methodologically flawed. The present study takes an intensive ethnographic/autoethnographic approach to study the progreSS of six teenage boyS in a bifurcated eight-week Summer camp program evenly divided between adventure travel and apprenticeship as staff to younger children. The study set out to find out what antecedent factorS predicated the development of reSilience and Self-efficacy, with a particular focus on the culture of the camp aS a whole and the expectationS placed on Staff conduct; the developmental trajectory of the individual; the individual’S past experience with adverSity; the individual’s self-concept both at a given point of observation and over time; the group dynamic of the CIT cohort; the mentorShip of older Staff; the formal training as a counselor; and the expectations of a caregiver role. In addition to clear meaSureS of Self-efficacy, and, in Some caSeS, reSilience, the Study alSo revealed generalized positive psychological growth as a result of a healthy, value-setting group dynamic. Of particular intereSt waS the development of the Study itself, with its reflective interviews and focus groups focused on positive adaptation to challenges, as an additional antecedent factor. Running header: CIT Program HOW A SUMMER CAMP COUNSELOR-IN-TRAINING PROGRAM MAY FOSTER RESILIENCE AND SELF-EFFICACY IN ADOLESCENT BOYS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED ON THE EIGHTEENTH DAY OF MARCH 2013 TO THE INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM IN THE DEPARTMENTS OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY AND THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS OF TULANE UNIVERSITY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY __________________________________________ BRADLEY S. PHILIPSON APPROVED: __________________________________________ PROF. J. MAXWELL (DIRECTOR) __________________________________________ PROF. S. DU __________________________________________ PROF. A. TRUITT __________________________________________ PROF. M. CUNNINGHAM __________________________________________ DEAN R. MARKS Blank page/copyright Acknowledgements A huge debt of gratitude goeS out to the boyS who participated in thiS Study. The time Spent getting to know them and watching them grow haS been far more meaningful to me than thiS document can poSSibly reflect. Thank you, aS well, to “Dodger,” “Curly’S daughter,” and “Furry,” for making room for me to do the Study and Supporting me throughout. I conSider mySelf lucky to have Such good friends. Renée Michelet CaSbergue, now at LSU, deServeS credit for firSt Steering me towardS doctoral StudieS, and April Whatley Bedford at UNO helped keep me on that path. The firSt day I walked into the temporary Anthropology officeS at Tulane, I could not have conceived of the lengthS Judith Maxwell would go to help me deSign my interdiSciplinary program, recruit a committee, get the program approved (and funded), and then walk me through every Step of the way, eSpecially aS thingS got rough at the end. She has been incredibly patient. Thank you, as well, to the reSt of my committee for your counSel in and outSide of the diSSertation proceSS, Michael Cunningham, Ron MarkS, ShanShan Du, and AlliSon Truitt. OutSide of the direct world of thiS study, thank you to Carolyn Chandler, Howard Barton, Corbett SimonS, and ChriS Bright for helping me make room in my profeSSional life to continue to grow as a student (at an increasingly advanced age). Thank you to all of my family and friendS for everything you’ve done to Support me in thiS proceSS, and, above all, thank you to my parentS; the more I work with kidS, the more grateful I am for the Support and guidance you have given me for the laSt thirty-seven years. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………..…………….ii INTRODUCTION, LITERATURE REVIEW, AND METHODOLOGY………………………..1 I. Introduction: Study Aim, Background, and Design…………..……………………..1 II. Literature Review………………………………………………………………...………………………...7 III. Methodology……………………………………………………………………………………………..…41 PROGRAM NARRATIVE………………………………………………………………………………….…49 I. Prologue: A ReSearcher’S BiaS…………………………………………………………..…49 II. Maine, June 16-22…………………………….………………………………………………...62 III. Bar Harbor, ME to Glen, NH, June 23-27………..…………………………………..…85 IV. The White MountainS (NH) to Vermont, June 28-July 3………..……………....92 V. Vermont to UpState New York to Ontario to Michigan to Camp, July 4- 13..…………………………………………………………………………………………………..102 VI. Discussion of travel portion of program…………………………………………….122 VII. The ApprenticeShip, July 14-21……….……………………………………………..…128 VIII. The ApprenticeShip: July 22-July 28……….…………………………………………145 IX. The ApprenticeShip: July 29-AuguSt 4………. ……………………………………...155 X. The ApprenticeShip: AuguSt 4-11, Post-Program Conversations…………165 XI. Discussion of ApprenticeShip…………………………………………………………....192 DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………………………………………198 I. Revisiting the Research Question……………………………………………………...198 II. AreaS of Applicability……………………………………………………………………….204 III. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….……………215 REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………………………………………..217 APPENDIX A: Consent Form……….……………………………………………………………………227 APPENDIX B: AsSent Form………………………………………………………………………………233 APPENDIX C: Self-Efficacy Questionnaire…………………………………………………………236 Appendix D: Focus Group and Interview PromptS……………………………………………238 iii CIT Program 1 INTRODUCTION, LITERATURE REVIEW, AND METHODOLOGY I. Introduction: Study Aim, Background, and Design In September of 2011, journaliSt Paul Tough publiShed an article in the New York Times entitled “What if the Secret to Success is Failure?” His thesis, based on work done in urban KIPP SchoolS, catering to moStly Socioeconomically disadvantaged children who are memberS of ethnic minoritieS, and at the tony private Riverdale School in the Bronx, is that the key to raising kidS to be succesSful, to not only get good gradeS but to poSSeSS the poSitive psychological traits to be successful, resilient adults who can handle whatever comeS there way, iS character education. More Specifically, not merely valueS, but performance character, valueS relating to actions and decision-making. Citing the Angela Lee Duckworth’S work on resilience (2006) and Peterson and Seligman’S (2004) Character Strengths and Virtues, Tough seeks to identify specific traits students need to develop and examineS how they can develop. He later expanded thiS article into a book, How Children Succeed (2012), in which he SyntheSized empirical research and qualitative Study to examine how noncognitive intelligence, made up of the SkillS and abilitieS relating to performance character, iS not only the beSt predictor of SucceSS, but that it iS alSo malleable, teachable, at the very leaSt, well into adoleScence. Tough’s original article drew a lot of attention in education circles, not in the leaSt part becauSe he takeS the time to addreSS the needS of both inner city kidS and CIT Program 2 children of privilege, and this text was an eagerly awaited follow-up to that article. For many of uS in education, though, Tough waS merely calling attention to what we already knew; the information amaSSed by StudentS iS far leSS important than what they learn about how to be a perSon. Certainly, much of thiS takeS place at home, but how parentS raiSe a child iS heavily mediated by what the child learnS in a Social environment. Peer groupS and inStitutional culture, aS well aS the role modelS, both in the form of proximate peerS and truSted adultS, Shape valueS and provide a basiS for decision-making. At about the Same time Tough waS working on thiS article and thiS book, I had, at the age of thirty-five, returned to Summer camp to examine how a Small group of teenagerS attempted to tranSition into poSitionS of reSponSibility. I waS in a unique poSition in returning to thiS particular camp. For the firSt part of the program, I would be one of two Staff memberS traveling with Six teenage boyS throughout New England on a serieS of outdoor adventureS, serving dual roleS as trip leaderS and Staff trainerS. While we prepared them to take on the role of apprentice Staff memberS, we would be, eSSentially, within twenty-five feet of these kidS for twenty-four hourS a day. We would drive them from place to place in a van, hike, kayak, and canoe with them, viSit touriSt SpotS, Set up and break camp, Shop for and prepare mealS,