Cultivating Hope in Youth in the Aftermath of Family Violence: A Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Camp HOPE America Outcomes

Background and Purpose: According to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 1 in 4 children experience lifetime exposure to caregiver intimate partner violence (IPV), which negatively impacts mental health, behavior, academic readiness, and social-emotional development (Thackeray et al., 2023). Despite its prevalence, access to traditional therapy remains limited due to systemic barriers such as time, transportation, and financial constraints. Camp-based interventions may help address these gaps by offering accessible support focused on fostering hope and healing. While hope has been shown to be inversely associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms (Gallagher et al., 2020) and is often expressed by children affected by domestic violence (Arai et al., 2021), the underlying mechanisms of change in hope remain understudied. To what extent do demographic factors, pre-camp personality traits, and pre-camp psychological indicators predict changes in hope among youth attending Camp HOPE America’s Classic (ages 7-11) or High Adventure (12-17) programs?

Methods: This study analyzed data from a total of 640 campers from 23 states participating in Camp HOPE America programming. Using Snyder’s Children’s Hope Scale, the primary outcome variable was hope change, calculated as the difference between pre-camp and post-camp hope scores. Linear and nested hierarchical regression models were used to assess the effects of demographic factors (gender, age), pre-camp personality traits (e.g., self-control, curiosity, social intelligence, zest, grit, gratitude, optimism), pre-camp psychological indicators (resilience, pathways, and agency), and ACE scores (only available for High Adventure). Subgroup analyses were conducted for Classic and High Adventure campers.

Results: In the full model including all campers (n = 640), campers demonstrated a significant overall increase in hope from pre- to post-camp (β = 11.99, p < .001). Results suggest that gender and ACE scores were not statistically significant predictors of hope change. Among High Adventure campers (n = 202), results indicated that greater pre-camp social intelligence (β = 0.48, p = .025), higher resilience (β = 0.14, p = .035), lower agency (β = –0.40, p = .001) and pathways (β = –0.46, p < .001) scores were significantly associated with greater hope gains. For Classic Camp participants (n = 372), results indicated that greater pre-camp resilience (β = 0.20, p = .020), and lower self-control (β = –0.58, p = .013), agency (β = –0.57, p < .001), and pathways (β = –0.71, p < .001) scores predicted larger increases in hope.

Conclusions and Implications: These findings highlight the promise of camp-based interventions like Camp HOPE America for youth exposed to family violence. Younger children may benefit more from structured approaches that focus on self-regulation and coping, whereas adolescents may derive greater gains from programming that emphasizes social connection and resilience-building. Notably, having more adverse childhood experiences was not negatively associated with gains in hope—suggesting that youth with adverse childhood experience may benefit from these interventions. Future research should further explore the long-term effects of such programs through longitudinal designs and explore the mechanisms of change in these programs.