Benefits of Scouting

October 2, 2006 at 5:35 pm by matt· Filed under Pack 150

The following is excerpted from “Values of Scouts: A Study of Ethics and Character” By Harris Interactive. Download the PDF file here.

Scouting Provides Lifelong Benefits

Scouting provides youth with an opportunity to try new things, provide service to others, build self-confidence, and reinforce ethical standards. These opportunities not only help them when they are young, but carry forward into their adult lives, improving their relationships, their work lives, their family lives, and the values by which they live. In fact, 83 percent of men who were Scouts agree that the values they learned in Scouting continue to be very important to them today, with 63 percent who were Scouts five or more years strongly agreeing with this statement.

The majority of men who were Scouts as youth say Scouting has been a positive influence in their lives. This sentiment is particularly strong among men who remained in Scouting five or more years. Over two-thirds of men who were Scouts attribute some of their self-confidence in their work to having been a Scout. Likewise, more than two-thirds say there have been real-life situations where having been a Scout helped them be a better leader, and half (50 percent) of men who were Scouts say their Scouting experience had a positive effect on their career development and advancement.

  • Men who were Scouts are more likely than those who have never been Scouts to have higher levels of education, have higher earnings, and to own their own homes.
  • Ninety-one percent of men who were Scouts five or more years completed high school, compared with 87 percent of men who were never Scouts.
  • They are also more likely than non-Scouts to earn a college degree (35 percent versus 19 percent).
  • In addition, men who were Scouts five years or more have average household incomes of $80,000, compared to $61,000 reported by men who have never been Scouts.
  • Almost three-fourths (74 percent) of men who were Scouts own their own homes, compared to 65 percent of men who were never Scouts.