Does Being a Scout Affect Conﬁnement Due to COVID-19? A Comparative Exploratory Descriptive Study with Spanish Adolescents

: The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has caused great social changes, some of them not yet described. This article tries to give an answer to how it has impacted Spanish adolescents in the ﬁeld of domestic activity and how they use their free time and if there are differences between the normal population and people who have been involved in non-formal education programs, such as Scouts. In addition, young adolescents who actively participate as Scouts have been compared and, if so, belonging to a group has changed their behavior pattern. The sample has been obtained in a probabilistic way representing all the autonomous communities of Spain with a total of 1280 participants. To obtain the data, an online questionnaire was prepared with which qualitative analyzes were subsequently carried out. The results show statistically signiﬁcant differences in behavior, both in domestic responsibilities and in what they do with their free time. Young Scouts display different behaviors than their non-Scout peers.


Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has a strong impact on the mental and physical health of the population [1][2][3]. In March 2020, the level of a global pandemic was reached. The ease in its transmission, the lack of necessary equipment, misinformation, and the lack of immunization of the population meant that COVID-19 was an unprecedented challenge in the health, politics, economy, and social welfare of all countries in the world [4].
For children and adolescents, the physical and psychological impact of COVID-19 has been very high [5]. Various studies report psychological consequences produced by the pandemic that include poor quality sleep, reduced physical activity, symptoms of post-traumatic stress, apathy and recurrent negative emotions, boredom, and frustration, among others [6,7].
With the closure of schools, the academic routines of children and adolescents changed for months. Due to confinement, they found themselves forced to stay at home, following a different learning system and without the social contact they were used to at school [8]. Social life was mainly limited to the family they lived with, and leisure was also restricted to within the home. Several studies have indicated that the activity of young people has been affected in their leisure habits, as during the pandemic, more passive leisure has been more common, where the time spent in activities is in front of the screen or listening to music, while physical activities and taking care of health has been less common [9,10].
To all this is added the fear of contagion and the prevention measures that they have had to follow, some uncomfortable or annoying such as the use of a mask or social distance [11]. Parents also had to adapt to COVID-19. Combining work activity with caring for children, supervising schoolwork, or dealing with unexpected situations, such as losing a job or contagion from a family member, increased family stress [12]. In relation to the environment, the structure and functionality of the family, the housing conditions, the socioeconomic situation that surrounds the minor-together with the existence of material and emotional resources to face the event-play an important role in the vulnerability of the children.
Regarding the emotional resources to face the pandemic, this study assesses whether the young Scouts could have developed a series of skills related to coping, such as the control of emotions and communication skills [13], which could favor their well-being during confinement. Scout Spain [14] defines the Scout movement as an organization that is based on an educational project aimed at childhood, adolescence, and youth with the aim of promoting their comprehensive education and social involvement. Scouting works with and for children and youth with the illusion of building a better world through leadership among equals.
In general, the purpose of Scouts is to contribute positively to the spiritual, psychological, physical, and emotional development of young people through activities and workshops in nature. Its mission is to contribute to the education and development of people, mainly during childhood, adolescence, and youth, through a system of values based on law and The Scout Promise, to help build a better world [15]. In the same way, ASDE (Scouts of Spain) defines their area of development for youth as being spiritual, intellectual, social, physical, and emotional [14].
One of the main objectives of Scouting is Education for Sustainable Development, where young people are endowed with knowledge and social skills to promote active and global citizenship for the promotion of human and sustainable development and with the final objective of empowering young people to make conscious decisions and act responsibly for the sake of environmental integrity [16]. During the period of confinement, various Scout groups have taken the initiative to continue working on this objective through online initiatives such as recording social videos or online forums. Being able to continue volunteering has helped prevent excessive worry about the pandemic and even feel self-actualized and improve their mental health during confinement [17].
The following research questions have been posed for this study: (1) Does being a Scout influence anxiety and perceived quality of sleep during the COVID-19 quarantine? (2) Do behavioral habits in relation to free time (how free time is spent) change between people who belong to the Scout group and those who do not during confinement? (3) Are there different behaviors regarding housework between Scouts and non-Scouts? (4) Are there differences by gender and between groups according to gender in leisure activities during confinement?

Participants
To carry out this study, 1280 adolescents between 13 and 17 years of age were considered, with a mean of 15.01 (sd = 1.42) years. Table 1 specifies the composition of the sample according to whether it belonged to the Scout group and gender. The sample of the people that make up the Scout group has been chosen from the Federation of Scout-Explorers of Spain. For the non-Scout sample, it has been obtained in a probabilistic way belonging to a database of people who have volunteered to carry out surveys.
To be included in the database, it was necessary to meet the following criteria: Criteria common to the two groups

Instrument
To carry out the study, an ad hoc questionnaire was prepared in an online format. The questionnaire presents three groups of questions; One of them relates to the use of free time during quarantine, with questions about different possible activities (playing board games, reading, listening to music, watching television) and how the perceived quality of leisure time has been. For the quality of free time, a Likert-type scale of 0-10 has been used, with 0 being boring and 10 having had a great time. To indicate the different frequencies of leisure activities, a Likert-type scale has been used, also from 1-5 with 1 not at all and 5 very much. On the other hand, another block of the questionnaire makes mention of housework. For these questions, three possible circumstances have been considered, one is that the task to be carried out will already be done before the pandemic, another is that it will begin to be carried out during the confinement and the last option considered is that the task is not carried out. The answers were multiple-choice, participants checked the tasks they performed before the pandemic in another block in which they had begun to perform during the pandemic, and in the last block of the tasks, they did not participate in. The last questions that have been asked are about perceived concerns about the pandemic and if the situation is affecting sleep. In this question, the participants have three possibilities: better than normal, same as always, or worse than normal.
For the elaboration of these interviews, a committee of experts made up of social educators, psychopedagogues, and psychologists were counted. In addition, the scientific literature was reviewed to learn more about homework, [18,19] and the National Institute of Statistics [20] was used to learn about leisure in adolescents.

Procedure
To carry out the survey, the database of the Scout-Explorers Federation of Spain (ASDE) has been considered, from which it has been possible to access the sample of Scout persons. For the non-Scout population, it has been possible to access a private database in which the participants undertake to carry out the surveys. Once the sample was selected, an email was sent to the legal guardians of the participants in which the research was explained and their express consent was asked for participation in the study. In the same email, a form was sent to access the questionnaire they had to complete for the minors. The data was collected between May 2020 while it was still in confinement in Spain.

Data Analisis
For the calculation of the sample, the G * Power program in version 3.1.9.7 has been used. It was estimated that to have a sensitivity that would allow detecting effect sizes of d = 0.05 for the student's t-tests, 1240 participants were needed, while for the ANOVAs and MANOVAs this sample presents a sensitivity that allows detecting a magnitude of d = 0.10.
Once the online questionnaires were obtained, all the variables were codified. To compare the differences between Scout and non-Scout, it was chosen to perform Student's t-test for unpaired samples while MANOVAs were performed for the statistical calculation for differences by gender and ANOVAs for Post Hoc tests using the Bonferroni method. For data analysis, the statistical program SPSS v26 has been used.

Results
The calculation of the results is guided by the objectives of the research that is why the objectives will be answered in an orderly way so that it is easier for the reader to understand.
To answer the first question, a comparison of means was carried out using a Student's t-test, the results show significant statistical differences (t = 2.063, p = 0.039) with higher means in the non-Scout group 2.25 (sd = 0.67) compared to an average of the Scouts of 2.10 (sd = 0.68). That is, non-Scouts perceive themselves with more anxiety. This is intertwined with the quality of sleep reported by the groups in which statistically significant differences have been found (t = 2.805, p = 0.005), with non-Scouts having a mean of 2.10 (sd = 0.67) and Scouts a mean of 1.99 (sd = 0.66). In the quality of sleep, a higher score indicates worse perceived sleep. In answering the second research question, the means between the Scout and non-Scout groups in leisure time have been compared. The results of the statistical analysis can be observed in Table 2. Despite having statistically significant differences, the reported effect sizes can be considered of a small magnitude in most of the variables except in playing video games, crafts, watching videos on the Internet, do group activities, and exercise at home in which the reported effect sizes are considered medium. Although there are no great differences, people who are Scouts seem to prefer to spend their leisure time in more manual and/or physical activities that involve being with other people. On the contrary, people who do not belong to the Scout group prefer to spend their time in more independent activities such as playing video games or watching videos on the Internet. These differences in the use of free activities also influence the overall perceived quality of leisure time, observing statistically significant differences in perceived quality.
The third question refers to domestic responsibilities. It has been considered if the participants did the activity before the pandemic, if they began to do it during quarantine or if they do not perform this domestic task. The means of the activities can be seen in Table 3. All the means are between 0 and 1 since it has been coded as 1 performs the task and 0 does not perform the task. The results of the statistical analysis can be seen in Table 4. Regarding the activities carried out before the pandemic, it can be observed that there are statistically significant differences in all the variables except in sweep or mop, Clean up the house, and cooking. In the activities in which there are differences, it is the Scout group that most frequently performs these activities, although it should be noted that the effect sizes are small in most cases. During the pandemic, statistical changes have also been observed in all variables except dusting, clean up the house, and washing the dishes. On this occasion, the changes have been in favor of the non-Scouts in all the variables that there are changes except in cooking. As in the previous case, the effect sizes range from small to medium, the majority being small.
To analyze the differences by gender, four conditions have been assigned, two for the Scout group (girls and boys), and two for the non-Scout group (girl and boys). So, we have four possibilities: Non-Scout Girl (GNS), Girl Scout (GS), Non-Scout Boy (BNS), and Boy Scout (BS).
The first analysis that has been carried out is with respect to the quality of leisure time and the different activities carried out during confinement with gender and group interaction. The results of the MANOVAs, Lambda de Wilks F (8343.08, p = 0.000, η 2 p = 0.988) can be seen in Table 5. Statistically, significant differences have been observed in all variables except in inventing activities with my family and play alone with toys. In addition, the effect size has been reported. The largest effect sizes can be seen in video games and crafts. To elucidate between which groups the differences are found, Post Hoc tests have been performed. They are found in Table 6.  Table 6. ANOVA, Comparison of leisure time and activities according to gender and group (Scout and not Scout).  Another variable where there is a clear difference is playing video games in which non-Scout boys (Scout and no Scout) declare that they play more than girls (Scout and no Scout) and, at the same time, non-Scout girls play more than Scout girls, however, there are no statistically significant differences between the boys of both groups. Boys play whether they are Scouts.

Girls
Regarding crafts, they are the Scout girls who spend more time doing this activity against the non-Scout group (boys and girls), but not from their male Scout partners. Another variable in which statistical differences are observed is in Do online activities with a group to which I belong in this case the Scouts (boys and girls) carry out more activities of this type regardless of gender compared to the Scout group. However, no differences are observed by gender within the groups. Finally, regarding exercise or sports at home, there are statistical differences between Scouts and non-Scouts, with no gender differences within the groups. The variables where no gender difference was found have been Invent activities with my family and Play games/toys by myself. Another activity apparently not influenced by gender is read, although there are statistical differences between Scout girls and non-Scout boys.
Continuing with the differences by gender and group, the perception of concern and the perceived quality of sleep have been analyzed.
The MANOVA results indicate that there are differences according to the Lambda of Wilks F (10.189, p = 0.000, η 2 p = 0.023). Analyzing the groups by gender and group. The inter-subject tests show differences F (19.652, p = 0.000, η 2 p = 0.044). The concern variable perceived by the participants specifically, statistical differences are observed between girls (m = 2.40, dt = 0.60) and boys (m = 2.07, dt = 0.71), not Scouts. Non-Scout girls and Boy Scouts (m = 2.03, sd = 0.072) and Girl Scouts (m = 2.25, sd = 0.67) with Boy (Non-Scouts Scouts). There are no differences between the girls (Scout and non-Scout).
To analyze the differences by gender in housework, the means disaggregated by gender have been reported and whether they belong to Scouts or not can be seen in Table 7.

M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD)
Make As has been done previously, it has been considered whether the participants were already doing housework before the pandemic, whether they started doing it during the pandemic or not. For each of the cases, a MANOVA was performed with its corresponding Post Hoc tests using Bonferroni as a statistical test (as in all cases). As has been done previously, it has been considered if the participants were already doing the housework before the pandemic, if they started doing it during the pandemic, or not. For each of the cases, a MANOVA with its corresponding Post Hoc tests was performed using Bonferroni as a statistical test.
The results of the MANOVA for before the pandemic for domestic activities is (Lambda de Wilks F (5.083, p < 0.000, η 2 p = 0.031)), for activities during the pandemic is (Lambda de Wilks F (5.854, p < 0.000, η 2 p = 0.031)), and for those that are not done is (Lambda de Wilks F (6.132, p < 0.000, η 2 p = 0.037)). According to the statistic tests, there are significant differences in the three cases, in addition to an effect size that can be considered large. The results of the inter-subject tests have been reported in Table 8 for a better understanding. The differences found by the MANOVAs are not distributed equally among all the variables since in some of them there are no statistically significant differences. If we focus on the activities that adolescents carried out at home before the pandemic, there are no statistically significant differences in Sweep or mop and clean up the house and cook. Regarding the activities started during the pandemic, no statistical differences were observed in Sweep or mop, Dusting, clean up the house, and wash the dishes. Finally, the only variable in which no differences were found with respect to the no tasks performed by the youth is hang out the washing. The Post Hoc tests (Table 9), with respect to the tasks that adolescents perform before the pandemic, differences by gender are found in cleaning the table, the girls (Scout and non-Scout), they collaborate more than their male colleagues. If we look at washing the dishes, it is the girls (no Scout) who participate the least and it is the girls (Scouts) who participate the most. However, there is no difference between the boys whether they are Scouts or not. Table 9. Post Hoc tests for the differences between gender and belonging to the Scout or not.

Before the Pandemic During Pandemic Does Not Do It
Regarding the statistical differences found in the domestic activities that have begun during the pandemic, it is making the bed and cooking that have had the greatest increase. To make the bed is the boys being the ones who have started this activity the most, regardless of whether they are Scouts or not. With respect to the cooking, the differences are found in the Scout group, which both girls and boys have begun to carry out this activity without finding differences within each of the groups; that is to say, there are no differences between non-Scout boys and girls or between Scout boys and girls.
Finally, who does not do chores at home is analyzed. One of the variables in which there are greater statistical differences is in making the bed. Here, the gender differences are opposite in the groups. In the non-Scout group, the girls participate the least, while in the Scout group, it is the boys who do this activity less. Another variable in which there are large statistical differences is in cleaning the dust, which happens as in the previous. In the non-Scout group, the girls perform this activity the least, and in the Scouts, the boys. Another variable in which differences can be observed is in cooking. In this activity, there are no differences by gender within the groups, with the non-Scout group overall being the one that cooks the least.

Discussion
This study performs a descriptive analysis to explore whether there are differences between young Scouts and non-Scouts in their concern for COVID-19, sleep quality, leisure patterns, and domestic responsibility.
COVID-19 has had a negative impact on the physical and psychological health of the population. The results of this research show that young non-Scouts have a greater perception of concern than young Scouts, and there are also statistically significant differences in the perceived quality of sleep, in favor of the Scout group. Despite the absence of previous studies on this phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic, we consider that the Scout movement promotes social values and training in emotional education [21]. Among the values that Scouts promote is volunteering, which can promote feelings of well-being and feeling fulfilled or useful by helping other people [22]. That is why this group of people has better emotional management to handle the situations that have occurred during COVID. Furthermore, a higher quality of sleep leads to less stress and anxiety [23], maintaining this effect also during COVID-19 [24].
COVID-19 also has had a huge impact on the quality of youth leisure time [25]. Several studies mention the considerable increase in the use of screens (television, video games, and social media) and a reduction in their physical activity [26,27]. Prolonged confinement increased the sedentary habits of the general population, carrying a risk of worsening physical health [28]. Our results suggest that there are different leisure patterns depending on whether they are Scouts or not. Young non-Scouts have a greater consumption of video games, television, and board games, while young Scouts enjoy other types of games that require greater creativity (crafts). Scouting encourages social involvement and creativity through nature and cooperative work. Under normal conditions, the Scout methodology is taught through games, crafts, and short texts on different topics related to nature, thus developing other leisure concerns in addition to technological ones [29].
In relation to the research question on the differences between doing household chores during COVID-19 between Scouts and non-Scouts, our results indicate that before the pandemic, young Scouts helped more at home than young non-Scouts. After the beginning of the pandemic, the results indicate that they continue to show statistically significant differences in housework, specifically in make the bed, clear the table, cook, and hang out the washing. In general, these results may occur because Scout programs aim to acquire different skills, including domestic tasks (cooking, washing, cleaning, ironing...) within their socio-educational programs [14]. Among the Scout values are industriousness, as a virtue that encompasses all activities that the person performs either within the workplace, at home, or within an organization. It refers to fully complying with the duties and implies knowing the criteria of a job well done for each circumstance, having a motivation to try, having the ability to do well what is proposed [30]. Therefore, thanks to these values, young Scouts have a greater commitment to housework.
Regarding the limitations of our study, the questionnaires used have not been previously validated. Future research could address the long-term effects of the pandemic on the perceived quality of sleep, leisure time, and involvement in household chores in young Scout and non-Scout teenagers. A pre-post longitudinal investigation could also be carried out on the effects of scouting on the emotional education and emotional management of adolescents with a control group, considering the gender perspective.

Conclusions
The study considers that the results obtained are relevant because they provide current data on the benefits of the scout movement during the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent confinement. In this sense, the data reported in this study is a relevant step in an area of research that seeks to investigate the viability and effectiveness of the implementation of scouting as a non-formal educational strategy for the promotion of personal growth, social and personal skills, and improvement in sustainability competencies.
The study highlights that the values promoted by non-formal organizations can contribute significantly to developing coping strategies in the face of adverse situations that allow better adaptation. Funding: This study was financed partially by ASDE Scouts de España.

Institutional Review Board Statement:
The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by Bioethics Committee of University of Almería (UALBIO 2019/008).

Informed Consent Statement:
Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement:
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.