Background/Purpose Outdoor adventure programs significantly affect participants' self-esteem in western cultures, however limited self-esteem research exists with Malaysian cultures. These programs focus on perseverance, teamwork, and self-esteem. While programs and objectives in the United States and Malaysia are similar, how the organizations execute the outdoor programs in Malaysia are different. This is due to Malaysia's unique natural environment, cultural diversity, religions, ethnicities, and way of life. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of an outdoor adventure program (Kelab Rekreasi Sikamat) on self-esteem of Malaysian young adults enrolled in a 5-day outdoor adventure program.
Method Experimental participants were 161, 18-21 year olds; control group participants were 80 young adults who did not attend the program. The program consisted of a five-day field trip in Jelebu, Negeri Sembilan, involving backpacking in inclement weather (rain, high temperature, wind), bamboo rafting on the Kenaboi river, backcountry hiking at elevations above 1,000 meters, repelling through waterfalls, and overnight survival camping. Experimental and control groups were pretested before the program began and post-tested after the 5-day adventure using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES).
Analysis/Results ANOVA with repeated measures was used. The experimental group exhibited a significantly higher self esteem (pre M= 18.67 sd=.40; post M = 22.90 sd=.319) compared to the control group (pre M = 18.54 sd=.593; post M = 18.44 sd=.470) Wilk's Lambda F(1,237) = 189.424, p=.001, partial eta2 = .444.
Conclusions While the Malaysian culture, religions, ethnicities, and way of life are different, these study findings concur with Western studies.