Japan Outdoor Education Journal 5-2:45-54 (2002) The Effects of an Organized Camp Experience on the Social Skill Enhancement of Elementary School Children Junichi NISHIDA 1 Kimio HASHIMOTO 2 Mikio TOKUNAGA 2 Toshiharu YANAGI Most researchers have reported that an organized camp experience helps children and adolescents to develop more positive human relationship, while their social skills have rarely been studied empirically. Enhancing social skill are considered to be critical issues in outdoor education setting because of low social skill leads to undesirable behavior such as victims, bullies and school non-attendance. The purpose of this study was to examine the enhancing effects of an organized camp experience on a group of children's social skill. A group of twenty-three children participated in an organized summer camp program for one-week, and another group of forty-one children of the same age who did not participate in any camp were used as a control. Social skills, measured by the Self-rating Scale of Social Skills for Elementary School Children (SSS-E), were assessed before and after the organized camp experience. First, a repeated measures ANOVA (Condition ~Time) was performed. This analysis indicated a significant main effect of group in "prosocial skills." Moreover, ANCOVA using pretest scores as covariates revealed that after the intervention, the organized camp group had more "prosocial skills." Our findings, thus, suggest that organized camp experience may lead to enhance social skill for elementary children. The remains much scope for research on social skills. In particular, future outcome studies should employ longitudinal research designs over an extended duration. Finally, practical implication was also provided. Key words: organized camp, social skills, elementary school children 1 Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University 6-1 Kasuga-koen, Kasuga (816-8580) 2 Institute of Health Science, Kyushu University 6-1 Kasuga-koen, Kasuga (816-8580) 3 National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya Shiromizucho 1, Kanoya (891-2393)

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