The Effects of Long-Term and Short-Term Camping on IKIRU CHIKARA (Zest for Living) of Early Adolescents

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of long-term (14-days) camping and short-term (3-days) camping toward IKIRU CHIKARA (Zest for Living) of early adolescents.The subjects were24 (4th-8th) students who enrolled in long-term camping and30 (4th-9th) students who enrolled in short-term camping.IKIRU CHIKARA questionnaire developed by Tachibana et al. (2001) was administrated before, after and onemonth after the both camping.The findings indicated that“Judgment”and“Concern with Nature”of studentswho enrolled in long-term camping significantly increased after the camping and maintained it one month afterthe camping from those in short-term camping.On the other hand, “Brightness”and“Friendship andCooperation”of students who enrolled in short-term camping showed significantly positive change after thecamping.The result suggested that short-term camping influenced in a part of IKIRU CHIKARA of earlyadolescents and long-term camping was more effective on those rather than short-term camping.