원예활동이 청소년의 자아존중감과 학업스트레스에 미치는 영향

Effect of Horticultural Activities on Self-esteem and Academic Stress of the Youth

In an attempt to find out the influence of horticultural activities on middle school students’ self-esteem and academic stress, this study was performed to male students in A middle school in Gyeongsangbuk-do participate in a range of horticultural activities once weekly, on Thursdays, totaling 12 times, from September 9 to December 23, 2010. Self-esteem scores measured before and after the horticultural activities were compared. The scores of self-esteem from social and school, which are two of the sub-items in the stress questionnaire, rose by 4.92 from 24.23 to 29.15and by 4.23 from 24.53 to 28.76, respectively at the significance level, P<0.01. The total score rose by 18.62 from 138.38 to 157.00 at the significance level, P<0.05. Academic stress scores measured before and after the horticultural activities were compared. Academic stress led to no statistically significant difference whereas overall mean values dropped from 42.23 to 41.53. After completing horticultural activities, the control and experimental groups were compared in terms of changes in self-esteem and academic stress. Total scores from self-esteem showed a significant difference when P<0.05. Total from academic stress showed no significant difference. These findings suggest that horticultural activities influenced self-esteem and academic stress among middle school students. It seems necessary to study further on how to apply persistent and subject-specific horticultural therapy programs.