The effects of physical education 2 outdoor adventure courses in the development of students’ self-concept

Abstract

Self-concept is the general perception of a person to his or her self, including the person’s attributes, and who and what self is. This study investigated if students of Physical Education 2 Outdoor Adventure Courses in the University of the Philippines contribute to the change of their self-concept. Students were selected through random sampling. The survey was designed to be a match-up pair, where respondents answered the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS) questionnaire, before and after activities. TSCS examined six basic areas of an adult’s life namely physical, moral, personal, family, social and academic self-concept. Factor analysis through the PROMAX rotation method was used to summarize the questions in the survey into a few variables. The findings indicate that there is a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test self-concept gain scores measured by TSCS suggesting that there was a change in self-concept in the students as a result of student participation in PE 2 Outdoor Adventure Courses. Based on the PROMAX 6-factor model, after the camping activities, there is a significant change in the feeling and attitudes of respondents on being accepted by his or her social clusters. For the PROMAX 10-factor model, it can be concluded that after camping activities, there are positive significant changes in the social values of the students. The improvement in their social perception, pessimism and anti-sociality, and image-based social acceptance were also found to be significant. Outdoor Adventure courses has a big impact on mental health of students. This research promote awareness of the psychosocial benefits of outdoor program for other Universities.