Sending children to camp: An analysis of decision‐making by family income

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Dan Richmond,Camilla Hodge,Jim Sibthorp
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12730

RESEARCH

Sending children to camp: An analysis of

decision-making by family income

Dan Richmond

1

|Camilla Hodge

2

|Jim Sibthorp

3

1

Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, University of

Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, and Exercise

Science, Salt Lake Community College, Salt

Lake City, UT

2

BYU Marriott School of Business, Brigham

Young University, Provo, UT

3

Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, University of

Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

Correspondence

Dan Richmond, Exercise Science, Salt Lake

Community College, Salt Lake City,

UT, USA.

Email: dan.richmond@slcc.edu

Funding information

American Camp Association, Grant/Award

Number: N/A

Abstract

Objectives: This study sought to (a) identify the factors

most salient to parents when sending their child to summer

camp, (b) examine family members’roles in the camp

decision-making process, and (c) compare both by income

and other family contextual factors in a sample of parents

with a child who enrolled and participated in a summer

camp experience.

Methods: Survey data were collected from a total of

354 families that included families from high, middle, and

lower incomes. Surveys collected data on parental develop-

mental goals for their child, factors related to camp–child

and camp–family fit, and the level of involvement of fam-

ily members in the camp decision-making process.

Results: The study identified three core parental goals for

sending their child to camp: interactive learning, intraper-

sonal development, and fun/belonging. The analysis also

identified five essential considerations parents use to con-

sider camp fit: logistics/cost, program quality, child fit,

institutional ties, and social connections. One parent, pri-

marily the mother, drives the decision to send a child to

camp. Family income was significant predictor of all three

developmental goals with parents from higher income

families reporting lower levels of developmental goals than

parents from lower income families. Income also predicted

camp fit considerations related to logistics/cost, institu-

tional ties, and social connections. Parents in the high-

income group reported lower levels of consideration for

logistics/cost and institutional ties than parents in the low-

income group. Parents in the high-income group reported

higher levels of consideration for social connections.

Conclusion and Implications: Parents, regardless of income,

want the best for their children when they go to summer

camp. They want their kids to have fun, build social skills,

and develop independence and other intrapersonal skills.

However, parental decisions of where to send their child to

Received: 10 July 2021Accepted: 20 February 2022

DOI: 10.1111/fare.12730

© 2022 National Council on Family Relations.

1292 Family Relations. 2023;72:1292–1310.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fare

camp and parental evaluations of camp–child and camp–

family fit are more nuanced. Unsurprisingly, logistics and

cost are major considerations for families with low

incomes, and camps need to continue to find ways to

reduce barriers for kids from low-income homes to attend

camp through outreach and scholarship programs.

KEYWORDS

family decision-making, income, opportunity gap, out-of-school time,

summer camp

More than 7 million children attend one of the 14,000 camps accredited by the American

Camping Association (ACA; 2019) each year. Camps represent an important developmental

context for youth. Indeed, attending camps has been associated with positive developmental

outcomes for youth, including gains in self-esteem, independence, responsibility, leadership,

relationship skills, and affinity for nature (Bialeschki et al., 2007; Richmond et al., 2019;

Whittington & Garst, 2018). The developmental benefits of camp, however, come at a financial

cost. Camps represent an $18 billion industry, and the average cost of camp is approximately

$860 for 5 days and nights of overnight camp and $380 for 5 days of day camp (ACA, 2019).

Although national studies of camp-related outcomes, camp populations, andtypes of camps

have proliferated (Bialeschki et al., 2007;Garstetal.,2016; Gillard et al., 2011;Wilson

et al., 2019), few studies have considered how families—specifically, parents—arrive at the deci-

sion to send a child to camp. In addition, summer camp competes with other, potentially more

cost-effective, out-of-school-time (OST) developmental opportunities available to youth in the

United States. Therefore, understanding parents’camp enrollment decision-making can provide

insight into the motivations for and drivers of camp participation, particularly when explored

among families who successfully transition from considering to participating in camp. Thus, the

purpose of this study was to (a) identify the factors most salient to parents, (b) examine family

members’roles in the camp decision-making process, and (c) compare both by income and other

family contextual factors in a sample of parents with a child who enrolled and participated in a

summer camp experience.

Multiple life domains and factors influence the decision regarding camp enrollment and par-

ticipation. In the following sections, we first consider parents’developmental goals for their

child and how camp may facilitate those goals. Second, we explore the ways in which parents

assess camp–child and camp–family fit before camp enrollment and participation. Third, we

review previous research on family members’contributing roles at different stages of the

decision-making process. Finally, we summarize the literature on family-level factors that are

likely to affect parents’developmental goals for their children, camp–child and camp–family fit

assessments, and the decision-making process.

PARENTS’DEVELOPMENTAL GOALS FOR THEIR CHILDREN

Expectations for developmental progress—particularly parents’expectations (typically, parents

finance camp attendance)—are likely to influence camp enrollment and participation. For

example, favorable parental beliefs about how activities are associated with positive outcomes

for their child are essential to initial and sustained participation in summer camp and other

OST opportunities (Henderson, Whitaker, et al., 2007; Simpkins et al., 2012). Parents’beliefs

about activity outcomes may stem from personal experience, previous experiences of the child

or sibling, or from the opinions and recommendations from others within parents’social

SENDING CHILDREN TO CAMP1293