October 2024
Parenting can feel like navigating an endless maze of decisions, big and small. Deciding how kids spend their time when school’s out is a corner of that maze with a particularly bewildering array of options. How does going to camp compare to family vacations, summer education, sports or arts programs, or just kicking around at home?
Fortunately, scientists have studied this very question. To get the deets, we spoke with Robert P. Lubeznik-Warner, PhD, lead author of a recent study on the developmental outcomes of various summertime pursuits.[1] He’s a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Utah, where he studies the role of summertime experiences in youth development and well-being. Before getting his PhD, he spent years as a camp counselor and instructor, where he specialized in supporting wilderness-based experiences for young people experiencing the juvenile justice system, homelessness, or mental health challenges.
“Camp is different than a lot of other out-of-school time settings in that it’s removed, it has a sense of being away, yet it’s an intact cultural microcosm. The ‘place apart’ is one of the biggest pieces that makes it distinct.”
Robert P. Lubeznik-Warner, PhD
Just like everything in parenting, Lubeznik-Warner said there’s no single right answer for every kid or every family. But the research does offer some useful insights that might help you find your way through the maze. For children and adolescents, researchers report that camp brings some unique benefits including fostering independence in a place away from home, the ability to try new things in a supportive environment, and the opportunity to build strong relationships with both peers and near-peer adults. When selecting a camp for your kid, it’s a good idea to think about what you hope they’ll gain from the experience, consider how well the camp environment fits with your child and their current developmental stage, and look for camps that are focused on delivering high-quality programs with continual improvement.
Read more in our conversation with Dr. Lubeznik-Warner.
What does the science tell us about how summer camp experiences affect children’s social and emotional development?
Lubeznik-Warner: Camp’s not for everyone, but it does meet a lot of needs for a lot of kids. On average, kids feel like camp is an engaging space where they feel a sense of belonging, they feel like there’s opportunities for learning new types of things, and those can lead to developmental outcomes that spill over into school settings. We think of camp as part of the broader ecosystem of youth development. It’s a nice complementary setting to other summertime and year-long settings.
What seems to be unique about the camp experience compared to other ways kids spend their time?
Lubeznik-Warner: In general, we know that camp is different than a lot of other out-of-school time settings in that it’s removed, it has a sense of being away, yet it’s an intact cultural microcosm. The ‘place apart’ is one of the biggest pieces that makes it distinct. It could be that that shows up most often in overnight camps, but there’s an argument to be made that it can happen in day camps, too.
Also, in the broader human development literature, a lot of folks talk about the importance of non-familial relationships, especially during the adolescent years. An aspect of camp that’s different in some ways is the near-peer relationships—it has those relationships with non-familial adults, but those non-familial adults are also more proximal in age.
I don’t think every camp experience has to look the same. We’ve learned that there is a set of core outcomes across all camp types [such as relationship skills and independence], and camps that are set out to do certain things [such as serving a particular demographic or faith identity] tend to deliver on those.[2] It’s really the match between what the kid needs and what the camp can provide. Most parents probably think about that when they’re making decisions, but it’s useful to know that there is evidence that suggests all camps likely do these core things, and camps that have a particular focus likely also do those unique things that are different.
What are some features parents might consider in deciding whether to send their kid to camp, and which camp to select?
Lubeznik-Warner: It really depends on what parents are hoping kids get out of an experience. When I think about camps for my kids right now, it’s about fun, new experiences, and exposing them to people that they haven’t been around. Part of my wife and my hope is also that they’ll have a connection to a culture that extends beyond them. For example, going to a Jewish camp for our kids is important because their grandparents went to a Jewish camp, so there’s a connection over the years.
“Different places will meet the needs of kids at different points in their lives. Camp is particularly well suited to the late childhood, early adolescent period into the late adolescent, emerging adulthood phase.”
Robert P. Lubeznik-Warner, PhD
A general way to think about it is person-environment fit, or in the human development literature, there’s also a concept of stage-environment fit. Different places will meet the needs of kids at different points in their lives. Camp is particularly well suited to the late childhood, early adolescent period into the late adolescent, emerging adulthood phase.
I’m more likely to send my kids to camps that focus on program quality and continuous improvement. Program quality is one of the things that camps can control most—the quality of those staff-youth interactions and the systems that are put in place to support that. For example, if they’re talking about safety, supportive environments, interactive activities, a focus on engagement—those are some of the key domains of program quality. And we know that there’s a link between program quality and [positive] outcomes.
You had a lot of on-the-ground experience with camps and wilderness education before you became a scientist. How have those experiences influenced your research?
Lubeznik-Warner: I went back to graduate school with the primary hope of doing work that mattered. There’s a lot of folk knowledge about what makes sense to do or practices that are beneficial for youth development, and then there are actual evidence-based practices. I wanted to contribute to the evidence base to help organizations ultimately help youth have the best experience possible, and to do so in ways that might more consistently lead to certain types of experiences. Part of science is to inform change, and I wanted to be part of that.
There is also a strand of my work that focuses on social justice or equity, and a lot of that came from those work experiences and the different populations that I worked with. I see a need to center that in my work.
You can check out more of Dr. Lubeznik-Warner’s work here.
What other camp and parenting questions do you wish science could help you navigate? Add your ideas in the comments!
[1] Lubeznik-Warner, R. P., Sibthorp, J., Richmond, D., Froehly, M., & Wycoff, T. (2023). Comparing summer camp to other summertime settings: An explanatory-sequential mixed-methods study. Journal of Leisure Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2023.2244475
[2] Warner, R. P., Sibthorp, J., Wilson, C., Browne, L. P., Barnett, S., Gillard, A., & Sorenson, J. (2021). Similarities and differences in summer camps: A mixed methods study of lasting outcomes and program elements. Children and Youth Services Review, 120, 105779. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105779
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