I was in scouts and cadets here in New Zealand when I was a teenager and continue to spend a fair amount of time in the outdoors (I also did Outward Bound when I was 16), and I can definitely relate to the researcher's findings.
When you're 2 days walk from civilisation, it's pissing down with rain, and you're cold, wet, hungry, and tired, you get a different perspective on life and the "soft" challenges that you face in life back home.
By "soft" challenges I mean things that aren't really life threatening, if you fail to pay the bills, you aren't going to die. If you get soaking wet and get hypothermia in the bush, you could very well die (although it's very unlikely in a structured environment like scouts).
I used to ignore problems that I didn't like, and more or less wait for them to go away, this approach obviously didn't work too well. One thing that spending a lot of time in the outdoors did was teach me that when you're in the shit, the only thing that you can do is keep on going forward. When it's dark and cold, and you're tired and your feet hurt, sitting down and resting and waiting isn't going to help you, you need to keep on walking to the hut. And there's nobody else who's going to help you; you can't phone a friend and get them to do the walking for you.
The teamwork skills you learn are different to the ones you learn in a soft environment too. Everyone works together for a group benefit, because you're all stuck there together.
I've never served in the military, but from the people I know that have, they pretty much learn to take the same attitude. I think that these experiences are something that everyone should have exposure to earlier in life. I've had some experiences where I was absolutely miserable at the time, but in retrospect have been very powerful character building and learning experiences. I spent a week cold and wet in the rain, with a wet tent and a wet sleeping bag on Outward Bound and for 2 nights I was sleeping on an open sailboat and managed about 3 hours of sleep total, I hated it at the time, but it was one of the most character building experiences of my life in retrospect.
As an Eagle Scout and former Army officer, one of my enduring life lessons has been "false motivation is better than no motivation."
When you're cold, wet, and tired it helps to pretend you love it. It's infectious, too.
It is actually a good feeling when you realize you're not as fragile as you thought you were. "I would have thought that I'd be miserable in this situation, but I'm actually OK" is a good thought to have.
Which means "The situation is bad, but deal with it."
The problem with this phrase is that the U.S. military takes it extremes, telling soldiers to suppress inborn capacities for empathy, particularly in regard to civilians and "military-age males" routinely maimed and butchered in the course of its day-to-day operations. Inevitably resulting not only in mental health issues for the soldiers when they return home, but ultimately, failure of the overall mission itself.
This comment made me think back to my childhood. I've never been in any organized outdoor/military groups, but a phrase I heard a whole lot while growing up was "you have to". Things like doing chores or homework were not presented as "should", but rather "have to". My protests were usually met with "yes, we hear you, but you still have to". Pissed me off to no end back then, but in retrospect has been highly valuable in teaching the same attitude towards problems - they don't just go away on their own.
One thing that I got from my time as a scout is to live and work with people I can't stand, which is something that has helped me a lot since that time.
Definitely, even if you hate them you have to work with the rest of your patrol and make your situation as good as possible, whether that be by stringing up tarps, building tripods to hang your stuff on, making an axe yard, or caring for Mike who is having yet another asthma attack/seizure/hypothermia/etc.
I was lucky enough to be in a large, non-religous troop that happened to have a bus & be very well organized (4 Junior Assistant Scoutmasters!), definitely a great experience, only wish I had gotten further than life.
Not to take away from scouts, but I feel like this study could apply to any group that a child decides to stick with and learn from. Sports teach resilience and the like, as well does joining a music group. My club soccer team during high school was unbeaten for most seasons and ended up state champions, but most of us didn't hangout afterwards or even like each other.
Scout specifically get in to nature, and there are several articles/studies claiming there are positive mental health effects of being in nature, so that (or the the combination of that plus what you were saying) could be part of whats going on.
Not really, playing sports doesn't give the "immersive" experience of spending several days at a time in the back country, sports kit doesn't have the meaning attached to it that a uniform does, etc etc. I was a cadet rather than a scout but even decades later it still shapes my thinking.
I dunno, I dumped the Boy Scouts as soon as I started playing sports. It didn't help that there were legitimate, registered sex offenders involved in the leadership of the local troop. But really it was that it was just easier and more fun to just go out in the back country and do stuff on your own than to put up with all the red tape and bureaucracy and fiddle-frigging around that Scouts entailed.
Which brings us to the end of the thought process: different people (are equipped to?) perceive situations differently & react differently. If the scouts prepared me to not be afraid of being thrown out of my home, or the army gave me the means to survive in life threatening situations, I think it's an even greater sign of character, or maybe just discipline and maturity, to recognise serious situations which aren't the same as dying. After all, your training as a soldier or scout will mean nothing, if you haven't accepted that the things it prepares you for are (or will be) actually a problem.
In my mind, that's not a different perspective. It's the same perspective, applied elsewhere.
Definitely, if I were forced out of my home, I would be able to hit the ground running with minimal fear. I know what to do to improve my situation when I've been dealt a crap hand thanks to scouts, and how to deal with others around me even when they are acting crazy.
Many other people would not make it long term in such a situation, and I'm not trying to imply it'd be an enjoyable life, but I do wish more people had skills to survive the environment just outside their homes.
Being from the top left of Europe and having suffered the consequences of making bad assumptions about weather in Italy in winter ("It's Italy, must be warm") I'd always check.
For example, you might quite easily freeze to death at the top of Mount Etna! (And/or burned to death).
I was constantly bullied and harassed in my youth. Anything that was like scouts/guides was even worse. I'm certain I brought it on myself by being different and socially inept, but this bullying certainly didn't benefit my mental health.
You are correct - these are the lessons you learn in the military too.
I've only recently been noticing how applicable the lessons I learned in the Royal Marines are to software development. Thanks for putting it so eloquently.
This! Its about being responsible for yourself. That teaches worlds of healthy attitude.
One of my Scouts likes long-range bicycling (mountains, centuries etc). He had engraved on the headset of his bike "There's only one way to get home" to remind himself that its all up to him.
"When you're 2 days walk from civilisation, it's pissing down with rain, and you're cold, wet, hungry, and tired, you get a different perspective on life and the "soft" challenges that you face in life back home."
When you're 2 days walk from civilisation, it's pissing down with rain, and you're cold, wet, hungry, and tired, you get a different perspective on life and the "soft" challenges that you face in life back home.
By "soft" challenges I mean things that aren't really life threatening, if you fail to pay the bills, you aren't going to die. If you get soaking wet and get hypothermia in the bush, you could very well die (although it's very unlikely in a structured environment like scouts).
I used to ignore problems that I didn't like, and more or less wait for them to go away, this approach obviously didn't work too well. One thing that spending a lot of time in the outdoors did was teach me that when you're in the shit, the only thing that you can do is keep on going forward. When it's dark and cold, and you're tired and your feet hurt, sitting down and resting and waiting isn't going to help you, you need to keep on walking to the hut. And there's nobody else who's going to help you; you can't phone a friend and get them to do the walking for you.
The teamwork skills you learn are different to the ones you learn in a soft environment too. Everyone works together for a group benefit, because you're all stuck there together.
I've never served in the military, but from the people I know that have, they pretty much learn to take the same attitude. I think that these experiences are something that everyone should have exposure to earlier in life. I've had some experiences where I was absolutely miserable at the time, but in retrospect have been very powerful character building and learning experiences. I spent a week cold and wet in the rain, with a wet tent and a wet sleeping bag on Outward Bound and for 2 nights I was sleeping on an open sailboat and managed about 3 hours of sleep total, I hated it at the time, but it was one of the most character building experiences of my life in retrospect.