4-H Camps: Complexities in Adult-Youth Dynamics

Summer camp programs provide adolescent counselors with opportunities to work alongside adult staff, aiming to develop critical skills such as communication, responsibility, independence, and teamwork. Growing research supports the value of camp-based developmental relationships through youth-adult partnerships. However, tensions often arise as adults struggle to share power while youth question their roles as partners. Few studies have investigated the role of expectations and realities in camps that promote a youth-adult partnership approach. To address this gap, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the role perceptions of 14- to 18-year-old camp counselors and program directors’ expectations of counselors’ roles in three Missouri 4-H summer camps. Three core themes emerged, reflecting contrasting perceptions of adolescent camp counselors’ roles and responsibilities: managing behavior, caring for campers, and ensuring campers have fun. Despite positive intentions from program directors and counselors’ enjoyment of their experiences, the findings highlight a disconnect between program directors’ stated intentions and the actual structures supporting youth-adult partnership practice. This is the first known study to explore tensions between adolescent counselors and adult program staff in the context of youth-adult partnership practice in camping programs.