Abstract

Residential summer camps, one of the most popular organized programs for children in the United States, may promote several aspects of positive youth development. These positive outcomes may stem in part from camp counselors, who often forge close relationships with youth, but few studies have examined these relationships. To facilitate this research, we developed a camper-reported camper-counselor relationship quality scale. In Study 1, scale items were created and/or adapted and evaluated through expert ratings and cognitive interviews. Exploratory factor analyses using data from 318 campers (ages 7–15) from Jewish overnight camps supported the hypothesized three-factor structure. In Study 2, confirmatory factory analyses of data from a second group of 324 campers from similar camps confirmed the three-factor structure and showed preliminary evidence of concurrent validity; camper Jewish identity scores and age were positively associated with camper-counselor relationship quality. Implications for practice and continued research and validation are discussed.

摘要

住宿夏令营是美国最受欢迎的儿童组织项目之一，可以促进青少年在多个方面的积极发展。这些积极的成果可能部分源于营地辅导员，他们经常与青少年建立密切的关系，但很少有研究审视这些关系。为了促进这项研究，我们开发了营员报告的营员与辅导员关系质量量表。在研究 1 中，通过专家评分和认知访谈创建和/或调整和评估量表项目。使用来自犹太过夜营地的 318 名露营者（7-15 岁）的数据进行的探索性因素分析支持了假设的三因素结构。在研究 2 中，对来自类似营地的第二组 324 名营员的数据进行验证性工厂分析，证实了三因素结构，并显示了同时有效性的初步证据；营员犹太身份得分和年龄与营员与辅导员的关系质量呈正相关。讨论了对实践以及持续研究和验证的影响。