Effects of Adventure Education Mountaineering Courses on Undergraduates' Life-Effectiveness and Group Cohesion

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of adventure education mountaineering courses on undergraduate's life effectiveness and group cohesion. The Quasi-experimental method and pretest/post-test nonequivalent groups design were used in this study. Undergraduate students, who were participated in this study, were divided into two groups: an experimental group with participating in mountaineering courses (n = 11) and a control group without participation in mountaineering courses (n = 24). The life effectiveness scale, which consisted of 6 subscales, such as time management, emotional control, achievement motivation, social leadership, self confidence and active initiative, and group cohesion scale were taken to examine the pretest and post-test effects. According to the results, undergraduates in experimental group achieved more significant and positive improvements on life effectiveness, achievement motivation, social leadership, self-confidence, active initiative as well as group cohesion than the undergraduates in control group. In conclusion, findings from our study suggest that the adventure education mountaineering courses could promote undergraduate's life effectiveness and group cohesion.