This study focused on the mediating effect of two adventure programs emphasizing relationship establishment between youth on the relationship between family styles and levels of intrinsic motivation. Family style is defined as the levels of caring and discipline family members give to their children. Because of its connection to interest, autonomy, competence, and relatedness, family style is considered as a variable impacting on levels of motivation participating in experiential-based programs. Findings indicated that during the overall adventure experiences, the high support and high challenge (HSHC) family group showed an enhanced level of relatedness than the low support and low challenge (LSLC) group. In addition, pairwise comparisons indicated differences in competence and relatedness between the HSHC and the LSLC groups in the pretest, but were no longer significant at the posttest. The paired t tests showed that the LSLC group improved on interest, competence, and relatedness throughout the adventure experiences. The findings indicated that the adventure programs offer an environment, which enhance youth participants’ perceived interest and psychological needs, especially for youth from the LSLC group.
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