MTC - camp creates healthy teenagers, and we have the data to prove it

In March of 2024, MTC received an email from an independent neuroscience lab, asking if we had any interest in enrolling in a study looking at the impact of device-free experiences on adolescent cognition and mental health. The ask was coming from an independent neuroscience lab (Sapien Labs) in conjunction with UC-San Diego and Rady Children's Hospital. Sapien is pretty well known, mostly for it's Global Mind Project (GMP), innovative use of EEG, and the Schools for Strong Minds project. Sapien also has some heavy hitting research partners besides UCSD and Rady, including the authors of "The Anxious Generation" and John Hopkins University.

That's some impressive company to keep...

If you know anything about me (Pinesy), the answer was a quick and enthusiastic yes.

It would involve a lot of work (okay) and no small amount of risk. Few, if any, camps have ever had their claims of the impacts of camp on campers health tested by outside, independent 3rd parties using rigorous science. Some colleagues in the camping world looked at me with raised eyebrows - what if the data wasn't in our favor? Sapien would still publish the results either way, there was a risk we would look bad.

That was an easy question to answer - if what we are doing isn't helping teenagers, why would we want to keep doing that? But on the other hand, if what we are doing does really help teenagers achieve their best, wouldn't we want to the whole world to know?

The research design was ambitious, and honestly a logistical challenge within the scheduling framework of camp in the summer. 

But we managed to pull off most of elements of the study, after a little trial and error, with enough rigor to provide the level of validity the data needed to be included in a statistical analysis. The methods involved using an extremely well validated measurement tool (the MHQ, which has been normed in over 150 countries and 2M+ participants), EEG measures, and some wonderfully elegant social-perception protocols.

The first major part of that analysis is done, and the write up will soon be submitted for publication in a scientific journal.

However, I was able to get a sneak peek at the paper and findings at Sapien's research retreat this week. And those findings are nothing short of remarkable (see photos of slides below)...

Maine Teen Camp doesn't just make a difference for teens, MTC makes a BIG difference. For all teens. If a teen is thriving, they do even better at MTC. If they are struggling in some areas, they improve dramatically at MTC.

MTC campers showed significant improvement in overall mind-health, with specific improvements in emotional and cognitive regulation, resilience, and social function.

There is a lot of data, and we'll link to the final paper once it is in pre-print, however, we have several highlights to focus on 

- All campers showed improvement in their cognitive performance, and overall wellbeing as a result of being at camp,

- Those campers who had the most "room for improvement" improved the most at camp, but high scoring campers also improved,

- All campers showed an improvement in social emotional perception at the end of camp,

- 80%+ of campers found it easier to make friends at camp and felt they belonged more at camp than at school and,

- Campers improved most at emotional & cognitive regulation, resilience, empathy and SLEEP

These are big results, but the question is, why do they matter?

Of course we are stoked that campers improved in general, in a statistically significant way from being at camp. While we didn't separate data according to how long a camper was at camp, it is apparent that any amount of time at camp is of very real benefit.

It is worth noting that the campers who "needed" the camp experience the most (those who were struggling coming into camp) received the most benefit, but it is especially noteworthy that even our succeeding/thriving campers also showed strong benefits from being with us. Consider camp as a high-performance coach for these kids. 

Across the board, social function improved significantly at camp. Both the mechanics of social perception/understanding, but also the campers self-reported ease of making friends and belongingness. This is perhaps the most compelling argument, given the crisis of isolation and the growing recognition that social efficacy is intrinsically linked to all kinds of measures of health and success. Kids who find it easier to make and keep friends do better not just socially, but academically, in sports, and ultimately, in college. We've always known that camp is good for helping kids socially, but we now have the data to back that up.

Finally (for now), my favorite finding. A majority of campers reported enjoying being device-free at camp. Only 6% of campers reported missing their phones while at camp. This is in line with what we learn when we survey campers after camp, but this data is far more comprehensive. Whereas our post camp surveys achieve between 15-20% response rates, this data was collected from over 90% of campers by Sapien Labs.

So what does all this mean? While we still need to do more work, both in MTC and at other camps this summer to refine our understanding of the mechanisms of improvement, for now we can safely say this. MTC, as a complete experience, is undeniably great for all teenagers, of all ages, and of all interests. As a tool to optimize teen mind health and efficacy, to best prepare them for college and beyond, nothing else is shown to be remotely close to camp. Not college prep programs, summer sports, summer jobs, or travel programs.

We don't yet know quite what makes camp so beneficial. Whether its the fact that kids are device-free, or close to nature; if they are sleeping well, or have tons of time interacting with peers. Maybe its the combination, all the individual ingredients combining to do something that is greater than the sum of the parts. We hope to find out, in order to help more kids, in and out of school, experience these benefits. IN the meantime though, the only way to be sure, well, you get it...