Provides camp directors with ideas for building and maintaining a sense of community among their staff, including (1) establishing a vision statement; (2) conducting team-building activities during precamp training; (3) establishing a "full value-no discount" policy that encourages caring behaviors; and (4) reinforcing a sense of…

Findings from three studies show that effective leaders have greater behavioral complexity and fill multiple roles better than ineffective leaders; listening skills are key to effective leadership; there are no gender differences in emerged leadership; and although task-relevant communication is important to leadership, other research indicates…

Reviews research on the relationship between children's self-esteem and coaching styles, and on the effects of race and gender on children's peer relations. Discusses implications for youth camps, including the importance of staff training in social-support enhancement techniques and peer-relations mediation. (LP)

Successful leaders possess technical, human relations, and conceptual skills. Often, due to its complexity, leadership is overlooked as a teachable skill. Choosing a leadership style depends on several factors, including the leader, group, and situation. Six leadership styles (democratic, benevolent autocratic, consultive, participative,…

Overviews research on the role of cliques among youth and on the symptoms and treatment of attention deficit disorder (ADD). Implications for camp include encouraging positive friendship groups among campers, reinforcing constructive group development, educating staff and parents about ADD, and providing a structured camp environment that has…

Research shows that well-managed conflicts can enrich a group, if good (cognitive) conflict is encouraged and bad (affective) conflict is discouraged. A model developed to understand how disabled people are treated at work suggests that there is a need to change beliefs about, as well as behavior towards, disabled people. Implications for camp are…

Summarizes research on the benefits of integrating campers with diverse characteristics, and describes the "benefits-based model" of programming, which addresses social problems through recreational activities. Implications for camp administration include recruiting participants and staff from various ethnic and social backgrounds and identifying…

Research shows that adolescent girls face developmental issues and need camp programming providing involvement with trusted adults, community service opportunities, safe places, and avoidance of loneliness. In other research, race was more important than gender in leisure choices, with blacks having smaller, less influential, peer groups than…