Impact of Army Character on Soldier Attrition Marisa Nihill, Ph.D., Loryana L. Vie, Ph.D., Raghav Ramachandran, M.S., Jacob Hawkins, B.A., and Paul B. Lester, Ph.D. Research Facilitation Laboratory 20 JUN 2018 Project Sponsor: Army Studies Project Management Office (ASPMO) Stakeholder: Center for the Army Profession and Ethic (CAPE) UNCLASSIFIED
Character in the Army Character serves as the foundation of people’s deliberate decisions and conscious actions. The Army operationally defines character as “dedication and adherence to the Army Ethic, including Army Values, as consistently and faithfully demonstrated in decisions and actions.” (AR 600 -100; ADRP 1) Within the Army Profession: – Character is essential for mutual trust and cohesive teamwork – the first principle of the Army’s doctrine of mission command. – Failures in character are a widely documented risk to mission accomplishment. Therefore, developing character within Army leaders is considered mission essential. 2 UNCLASSIFIED
Project Background Earlier work on this project developed a character measure tailored to the Army’s definition of character, in order to improve utility and predictive ability to Army-specific outcomes. This project leveraged routinely collected data available in the Person-event Data Environment (PDE) , a virtual space where researchers can collaborate, access data, and use statistical tools. – Afforded substantial cost savings – Access to several years of relevant archival data. Character was derived from the Global Assessment Tool (GAT), a psychological strengths survey that Soldiers complete annually. – 24 items from the GAT abbreviated VIA-IS character measure, designed to assess Wisdom, Humanity, Justice, Courage, Temperance, Transcendence. – AND 81 additional GAT 1.0 items, which enabled a more encompassing operationalization of Army- based character. 3 UNCLASSIFIED
Measuring Army Character Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, we previously Team Spirit developed a psychometrically sound Army- Based Character (ABC) scale with 5 distinct latent factors. Respect Identity We examined 3 samples of 18,000 soldiers Character each, drawn from an initial pool of 445,132 soldiers. The scale was consistent across gender, Competence Initiative + cohort, and component subgroups. Commitment These findings suggest the ABC scale may have utility and measure something meaningful in U.S. Army Soldiers. 4 UNCLASSIFIED
Army-Based Character Scale The factors demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity Correlations among Character Factors: Competence & FACTOR Respect Identity Team Spirit Commitment Initiative .232 .161 .177 .297 Competence & .507 .227 .349 Commitment Respect .221 .389 .249 Identity Note. Computed from a random sample of N = 18,000; all correlations are statistically significant (p < .001); correlations > .40 are bolded 5 UNCLASSIFIED
Army-Based Character Scale Latent Construct Item Initiative I have no control over the things that happen to me. ( reverse scored ) When I fail at something, I give up all hope. ( reverse scored ) I respond to stress by making things worse than they are. ( reverse scored ) How often do you feel ashamed? ( reverse scored ) Competence & Commitment How often have you shown/used critical thinking, open-mindedness, or good judgment? How often have you shown/used perspective or wisdom? How often have you shown bravery or courage? How often have you shown persistence? Team Spirit How often have you shown love or closeness with others (friends, family members)? How often do you feel close to people? How often do you feel love? 6 UNCLASSIFIED
Army-Based Character Scale Latent Construct Item Respect How often have you shown/used fairness? How often have you shown forgiveness or mercy? How often have you shown modesty or humility? How often have you shown gratitude and thankfulness? Identity My work is one of the most important things in my life. I am committed to my job. How I do in my job influences how I feel. The job I am doing in the military has enduring meaning. 7 UNCLASSIFIED
Army Attrition Attrition in a military context reduces force readiness, especially if it is greater than expected or when high performing Soldiers attrit at higher rates. When trained Soldiers leave the force, they take with them institutional knowledge and skills, and their separation may leave a critical vacancy if unplanned. This can have a significant impact on the Army’s ability to effectively and efficiently fight the nation’s wars. 8 UNCLASSIFIED
Can Character Predict Army Attrition? UNCLASSIFIED
Sample 26,204 Active Duty Army Soldiers Inclusion criteria: – Completed a GAT OCT 2009 - SEP 2013 – Joined the Army a year or less before their first GAT (i.e., new Soldiers). – Basic demographic information (Military Master Personnel File) and a valid contract term provided by Military Entrance Processing Command (MEPCOM) Attrition from the Army: OCT 2009 – JUN 2017 – MEPCOM Regular Army Analyst File – Military Personnel Transaction File 10 UNCLASSIFIED
Measures and Outcomes Character Measures: – ABC-1: single character score – ABC-5: character facets – Within each character facet or measure, items were rescaled to be on the same scale, when necessary. Attrition Outcomes: – Satisfy contract (Yes/No) – Renew contract (Yes/No) – Voluntary separation (Yes/No) – Character of service (1. Honorable; 2. General honorable conditions; 3. Less than favorable (Bad conduct, Other than honorable conditions, Dishonorable); 4. Uncharacterized) Covariates: – Age, Gender, Marital status, Rank, Education, Race/Ethnicity, and AFQT percentile scores 11 UNCLASSIFIED
Analysis Binary logistic and multinomial logistic regression Examined effects of covariates and the ABC-1 character measure and, separately the ABC-5 character measures, on each outcome to identify the measures with the biggest impact on Army attrition 12 UNCLASSIFIED
Overview of Soldier Attrition Outcomes Completed Initial Contract N % Yes 18,653 71.2 No 7,551 28.8 Renewed Contract N % Yes 11,383 61.0 No 7,264 39.0 Separation (Unknown reason: N = 48) N % Voluntary Separation 8,019 74.4 Involuntary Separation 2,756 25.6 Character of Service (Missing: N = 14) N % Honorable 6,661 61.3 General honorable conditions 3,000 27.8 Less than favorable ( Bad conduct , Other than honorable conditions or Dishonorable) 391 3.6 Uncharacterized 757 7.02 13 UNCLASSIFIED
Results – Characteristics of Our Samples Variable Mean ± SD ABC-1 (0-5) 3.84-3.91 ± 0.60-0.64 Competence and Commitment (0-5) 3.85-3.92 ± 0.76-0.81 Team Spirit (0-5) 3.63-3.67 ± 1.00-1.03 Identity (1-5) 4.00-4.08 ± 0.74-0.81 Initiative (1-5) 4.18-4.25 ± 0.66-0.71 Respect (0-5) 3.94-4.00 ± 0.76-0.79 Age (years) 22.39-22.81 ± 4.38-4.45 AFQT percentile (10 th to 99 th ) 59.92-61.82 ± 18.84-19.78 Variable % Gender (Male) 79.2-86.2 Rank (Enlisted) 99.1-100.0 Marital Status (Married) 22.0-23.5 Education (> High School) 12.5-15.5 Race-ethnicity (White) 75.4-75.6 14 UNCLASSIFIED
Impact of Overall Character on Retention Satisfy Contract As character increases, so do the odds of Soldier retention. Renew Contract For each 1-point Character increase in character, the odds of retention increased X%. Voluntary Separation Uncharact- erized Discharge Statistically Significant effect 15 UNCLASSIFIED
Results – Impact of Character on Satisfying Initial Contract Higher Identity and Initiative predicted greater odds of satisfying initial service contract. Standard Β Variable Odds Ratio z Error Intercept -1.352 0.599 0.155 -8.71 0.030 1.030 0.024 1.23 Competence & Commitment 0.012 1.012 0.016 0.73 Team Spirit 0.066 1.068 0.021 3.17 Identity Initiative 0.146 1.157 0.022 6.64 Respect 0.027 1.028 0.024 1.13 0.031 1.032 0.004 7.82 Age 0.561 1.753 0.036 15.52 Gender (Male) 0.104 1.109 0.037 2.77 Marital Status (Married) Education (High School diploma or less) 0.338 1.402 0.042 8.08 Race-ethnicity (White) -0.091 0.913 0.034 -2.68 -0.005 0.995 0.008 -6.31 AFQT percentile Note . N = 26,204. Significant predictor effects (p<.05) are in bold. 16 UNCLASSIFIED
Impact of Character on Satisfying Initial Contract Team Spirit As character increases, so do the odds of satisfying initial contract. Identity For each 1-point Character increase in character, the Satisfying odds of satisfying initial Initiative contract increased X%. Initial Contract Competence Commitment Statistically Significant effect Respect 17 UNCLASSIFIED
Results – Impact of Character on Renewing Contract Higher Team Spirit and Identity predicted greater odds of renewing contract. Standard Β Variable Odds Ratio z Error -0.512 0.599 0.175 -2.93 Intercept Competence & Commitment 0.028 1.028 0.027 1.01 0.050 1.051 0.018 2.77 Team Spirit 0.117 1.124 0.024 4.96 Identity 0.042 1.043 0.025 1.68 Initiative Respect -0.047 0.954 0.027 -1.72 0.006 1.006 0.004 1.30 Age -0.292 0.747 0.046 -6.29 Gender (Male) Marital Status (Married) 0.509 1.663 0.042 12.19 0.130 1.139 0.048 2.73 Education (High School diploma or less) -0.418 0.659 0.038 -11.02 Race-ethnicity (White) 0.007 1.007 0.001 8.37 AFQT percentile Note . N = 18,653. Significant predictor effects (p<.05) are in bold. 18 UNCLASSIFIED
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