Exploration of Reasons for Disaffiliation among Boy Scouts

Social psychology is concerned with the dynamic interplay of factors related to group affiliation and disaffiliation (2). A perennial problem within scouting is high rates of drop-out or disaffiliation. Salient changes have taken place in "The Scouts" in response to changes in youth culture values (1, 4). Most notable has been the updated alternative to the traditional khaki uniform, greater independence to stimulate leadership, and activiries that address environmental and social concerns (7). However, criticism has been too rigidly structured activities and skills learned were of little use in later life (1). Possibly the organizational changes in scouting are not happening fast enough to counter the "hang loose" philosophy of the youth culture (5): The present exploratory study concerned the dropout problem in scouring. Three sets of variables were examined: (a) patrol-troop appraisal (leadership satisfaction), (b) progress in scouting (thwarted advancement), and (c) activities (conflicting activities). Subjects were 118 males from 10 scout troops in the Aloha Council (Oahu, Hawaii); 78 were active scouts with one year or more of participation, while 40 were inactive boys who had at least one year of membership before dropping out The median age of joining was 11.2 yr. for the sample; slight age difference between active and inactive groups was not statistically significant. A special questionnaire was constructed to solicit information related to each hypothesis.' Two items on the questionnaire were concerned with appraisal of patrol and troop leadership (rated "excellent" to "poor"). Chi-square values were not statistically significant between active and inactive scouts. Two items on the questionnaire dealt with differences in advancement between the active and inactive scouts. Chi-square values were not statistically significant for observed differences in rank artained in scouting and for. number of merit badges earned. The median extracurricular activities for all boys was 2.3; difference between the active and inactive scouts was not significant. However, the perceived conflict between such out-group activities and scouting yielded a significant difference = 7.89, df = 1, p < .OI). Also the inactive scouts reported frequently leaving activities because they were perceived to conflict with each other ($ = 7.11, df = 1, fi < .01). A "motive" has been defined as terms in a vocabulary which appear to the actor himself and to the observer to be an adequate reason for his conduct (3). The 40 inactive scouc were asked to select their "reason" for dropping out of scouting from several alternatives. The three most popular reasons cited were: (a) personal activities conflicted with scouting too much (32.5% endorsement), (b) In. active troop ( 17.5 5% ) , and (c) inacthe patfol ( 10.0%). The preliminary findings suggest that "cognitive dissonance" associated with the conflicting demands of non-scouting activities may be important in leading a boy to leave scouting. According to dissonance theory (6, pp. 200-2091, one alternative to alleviate the conflicting demands of extracurricular activities is to incorporate the "dissonant" activity within the scope of scouting endeavors.