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Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#81

Post by moyta »

redcalx wrote: post #71
moyta wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I would say most new scouts are pretty anxious, and they also potentially come with other issues like asthma that likes to flare up, seizures, diabetes, etc. having had to deal with patrol members with these issues, sometimes 2 having one of these issues at the same time out of a group of 6 or 7. Generally you deal with it as quickly & safely as possible, get the rest of your patrol to rally and do what is needed…

You're conflating 'experiencing anxiety' with 'some underlying condition that increases the tendency to experience anxiety (and it's severity)'. The first cohort is a subgroup of the second. Or just switch anxiety for depression - i.e. everyday depression and 'clinical' depression are not the same thing.

No, I can definitely tell the difference between the two, I was just trying to give an example of what I experienced in scouting in the US.

Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#83

Post by disconcision »

totally wrote: post #62
redcalx wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a selection bias issue here. E.g. if there were some underling genetic disorder that causes anxiety, then that person is less likely to join a group.

Yep, the bias is that all of the scouts came from households that decided to enroll their kid/s in the scouts. This is not a joke, and there is a difference in value systems and other factors that cut across cliché dimensions like socio-economic status.

Yes, this seems likely. Even putting aside fine-grained value differences, a friend of mine put it this way: "Kids of parents who don't care enough go to summer camp, kids of parents who care too much go to scouts." (Referring, mostly, to the average expected levels of parental involvement.)

Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#84

Post by wayn3 »

arethuza wrote: post #76
wayn3 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the top left side. you're not going to freeze to death in southern italy

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).

"well, technically.."

Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#85

Post by harryh »

kelukelugames wrote: post #40

correlation != causation.

I dunno why you're getting down voted as this is a clear point to make. A fun game I like to play when I read these sorts of things in the news is to reverse the causation implied by what I'm reading. Often times it make more sense. In this case:

Those with better mental health are more likely to do Scouts and guides in their youth.

Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#86

Post by JoeAltmaier »

moyta wrote: post #63
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My scouts (was Scoutmaster for 20 years) definitely did not fit the 'rich kid' profile. Farm kids, rural community, parents working 2 jobs or driving a truck. We went to mountains, deserts, rivers and lakes. We swam in a lake on an island in a lake. We canoed, hiked, camped, cooked, woodworked, laughed and ran. Our Troop tried to keep event costs down to around $15, so everybody could participate. Succeeded for the m…

Depends on your troop, I know by far we were the best funded troop in our council, but that was purely due to the area we were able to sell christmas trees in. Without that, we would not have been able to get half our troop to go on trips, or get the proper gear (wool clothing, a good pack, tent, sleeping pad, etc) due to a lack of affordability. I do feel bad for the other troops in our area though, I know at least…

Our Troop required only a little parental involvement. The youth leadership decided most things. The parents were needed to drive, to serve on the committee (one meeting a month). It helps to have a strong Patrol Leader Council.

The gay youth in my Troop never had a problem taking leadership roles. The BSA national (read: Mormon) policy was no gay Adult leaders?

Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#87

Post by JoeAltmaier »

parennoob wrote: post #65
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My scouts (was Scoutmaster for 20 years) definitely did not fit the 'rich kid' profile. Farm kids, rural community, parents working 2 jobs or driving a truck. We went to mountains, deserts, rivers and lakes. We swam in a lake on an island in a lake. We canoed, hiked, camped, cooked, woodworked, laughed and ran. Our Troop tried to keep event costs down to around $15, so everybody could participate. Succeeded for the m…

> My scouts (was Scoutmaster for 20 years) definitely did not fit the 'rich kid' profile. Farm kids, rural community, parents working 2 jobs or driving a truck. Stuff like "farm community....2 jobs" tends to obscure actual family income. Do you know what income percentile they were in? > driving a truck The median annual wage for a trucker in the US is $73,000. This is not to doubt your comment -- just to put it in s…

...drive a pickup truck with a ladder in the back and a sign on the side: Bob's Lawn Service

Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#88

Post by pmyteh »

verbify wrote: post #57
allyjweir wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What country did you have that experience in? I'm an atheist and a Scout leader in the UK. When writing my programme I always include a spiritual component to it but leave it non-religious. We definitely discuss and explore different religions (in past year visited a Mosque, an Abbey and a Synagogue to learn about their cultures) but never focus hard on a religion or even suggest that holding a religious belief is ne…

> I promise that I will do my best Uphold our Scout values Do my duty to the Queen Help other people And to keep the Scout laws Well I'm an atheist and a republican, so that wouldn't work for me.

Being an atheist is expressly OK in the UK Scout movement (in fact, I'd say it's probably true of a decent majority of our adult and young members), and there's nothing in the scout values that people promise to uphold which require religion in any sense.

The duty to the Queen bit is a little bit more tricky. I'm a republican (and a scout leader) and concluded I was happy to follow the wording. The reason being that it doesn't define the scope of the duty, especially not in terms I would find problematic. The traditional scope of the duty is to keep the peace and not commit treason, both of which are required by statute law in any case. I don't see it as incompatible with wanting a change in the country's constitutional arrangements. And certainly the Scout movement wouldn't insist otherwise.

Re: Scouts and guides provide ‘mental health boost for life’

#89

Post by boothead »

toomanybeersies wrote: post #4

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 fac…

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.

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