The effects of a rights of passage programme on adolescent boys
Presented at the Male Psychology Conference, University College London, June 2018
Our objectives were to assess the efficacy of Journeyman UK in the context of the Rites of Passage Adventure Weekend we run annually, and get a quantitative assessment of our subjective experience of the program’s success in improving the participants’ wellbeing, emotional intelligence, self-awareness and agency – focussing on positive masculinity. An aid to help them with guided reflection of themselves, and changes that may have occurred during the weekend.
The study uses a questionnaire format with the use of 30 different likert scales designed to assess the participants’ wellbeing [Edit: using the Positive Mindset Index], emotional intelligence, self-awareness and agency. The study used a repeated measures design as the participants completed the same questionnaire before and after the camp. The study measured the change in the ratings on the likert scales given by the participant before and after the camp. This was done as a group assessment with conscious effort to make sure that there was no communication between the participants. The participants were made up of 16 boys aged 14 to 18 years; one of the boy’s data was not included because the questionnaire had been spoiled. The participants were from different ethnic and economic backgrounds. All participants grew up in the UK, mainly in the South West region. It is a camp based experience using exercises, activities and games for the purpose of self-development for adolescent boys aged 14 to 18 years. It is run by 35 volunteer men ages 18 to 60s.
Using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test it was found that the camp had a positive effect on the boys perceived wellbeing, emotional intelligence, self-awareness and agency to a significance level of 0.05 [Edit: in other words, the change in mental wellbeing was statistically significant].
We can conclude that the camp is effective in reaching Journeyman UK’s objectives. There were some anomalies in the data collected where the scores decreased, this may indicate an increase of self-awareness during the weekend.
This article was first published on the Male Psychology Network website in 2018
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The authors are part of a mentoring programme called Journeyman UK. This is a UK-based charity which uses rites of passage and other male-friendly interventions to help adolescent males understand how good men can contribute to society.