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Outdoor recreation self-efficacy among campers: an exemplary application
1Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Uşak University, Uşak, Türkiye.
Introduction And Objective:
While the fast-paced and productivity-oriented structure of modern life distances individuals from the natural environment, leisure activities, particularly outdoor recreation, play a vital role in supporting physical and psychosocial well-being. Camping, as a common outdoor recreational activity, involves uncertainty, risk, and personal responsibility, making self-efficacy a key factor in developing safe, conscious, and sustainable behaviors. Despite its importance, practice-based studies focusing on self-efficacy among campers remain limited. Therefore, this study aimed to examine campers' self-efficacy levels within the context of outdoor recreation and to investigate their relationships with demographic characteristics, physical activity habits, camping experience, and socioeconomic variables.
Methods:
This descriptive and correlational study collected data through face-to-face surveys from 317 volunteer campers in Antalya, Muğla, and İzmir. The Outdoor Recreation Self-Efficacy Scale was used for data collection. Independent sample t-tests were conducted according to gender, educational status, and regular exercise habits, while correlation, regression, and one-way ANOVA analyses were performed based on age, income level, and camping experience.
Results:
The results showed that male participants had higher self-efficacy levels than female participants. Age was weakly but significantly associated only with the skills/competence sub-dimension. University graduates demonstrated significantly higher self-efficacy than high school graduates. Regular exercise emerged as one of the strongest predictors, showing large effect sizes across all sub-dimensions and total scores. Moreover, self-efficacy increased significantly with greater camping experience. Income level also had a small to moderate effect on self-efficacy.
Conclusion:
The findings indicate that self-efficacy in camping and outdoor recreation is multidimensional, experience-dependent, and context-sensitive. These results offer valuable implications for promoting safe and sustainable camping practices, developing inclusive outdoor programs, and enhancing the psychosocial benefits of recreational participation.
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