Impact of Army Character on Soldier Attrition Marisa Nihill, Ph.D., - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Impact of Army Character on Soldier Attrition Marisa Nihill, Ph.D., - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Feb 24, 2023 827 likes •1.12k views

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

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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)

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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.
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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.

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Measuring Army Character

  • Using a combination of qualitative and

quantitative techniques, we previously developed a psychometrically sound Army- Based Character (ABC) scale with 5 distinct latent factors.

  • We examined 3 samples of 18,000 soldiers

each, drawn from an initial pool of 445,132 soldiers.

  • The scale was consistent across gender,

cohort, and component subgroups.

  • These findings suggest the ABC scale may

have utility and measure something meaningful in U.S. Army Soldiers.

Character

Team Spirit Identity Initiative

Competence + Commitment

Respect

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Army-Based Character Scale

  • The factors demonstrated convergent and discriminant validity
  • Correlations among Character Factors:

FACTOR

Competence & Commitment Respect Identity Team Spirit

Initiative

.232 .161 .177 .297

Competence & Commitment

.507 .227 .349

Respect

.221 .389

Identity

.249

  • Note. Computed from a random sample of N = 18,000; all correlations are statistically significant (p <

.001); correlations > .40 are bolded

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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?

Army-Based Character Scale

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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.

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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.

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Can Character Predict Army Attrition?

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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

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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

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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

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Overview of Soldier Attrition Outcomes

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

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

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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 (10th to 99th) 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

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Impact of Overall Character on Retention

Voluntary Separation

As character increases, so do the odds of Soldier retention. For each 1-point increase in character, the odds of retention increased X%.

Character Renew Contract Uncharact- erized Discharge Satisfy Contract

Statistically Significant effect

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Results – Impact of Character on Satisfying Initial Contract

Variable Β Odds Ratio Standard Error z Intercept

  • 1.352

0.599 0.155

  • 8.71

Competence & Commitment

0.030 1.030 0.024 1.23

Team Spirit

0.012 1.012 0.016 0.73

Identity

0.066 1.068 0.021 3.17

Initiative

0.146 1.157 0.022 6.64

Respect

0.027 1.028 0.024 1.13

Age

0.031 1.032 0.004 7.82

Gender (Male)

0.561 1.753 0.036 15.52

Marital Status (Married)

0.104 1.109 0.037 2.77

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

AFQT percentile

  • 0.005

0.995 0.008

  • 6.31

Higher Identity and Initiative predicted greater odds of satisfying initial service contract.

  • Note. N = 26,204. Significant predictor effects (p<.05) are in bold.
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Impact of Character on Satisfying Initial Contract

Satisfying Initial Contract

Team Spirit Identity Respect Initiative Competence Commitment

Character

Statistically Significant effect

As character increases, so do the

  • dds of satisfying initial contract.

For each 1-point increase in character, the

  • dds of satisfying initial

contract increased X%.

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Results – Impact of Character on Renewing Contract

Variable Β Odds Ratio Standard Error z Intercept

  • 0.512

0.599 0.175

  • 2.93

Competence & Commitment

0.028 1.028 0.027 1.01

Team Spirit

0.050 1.051 0.018 2.77

Identity

0.117 1.124 0.024 4.96

Initiative

0.042 1.043 0.025 1.68

Respect

  • 0.047

0.954 0.027

  • 1.72

Age

0.006 1.006 0.004 1.30

Gender (Male)

  • 0.292

0.747 0.046

  • 6.29

Marital Status (Married)

0.509 1.663 0.042 12.19

Education (High School diploma or less)

0.130 1.139 0.048 2.73

Race-ethnicity (White)

  • 0.418

0.659 0.038

  • 11.02

AFQT percentile

0.007 1.007 0.001 8.37

  • Note. N = 18,653. Significant predictor effects (p<.05) are in bold.

Higher Team Spirit and Identity predicted greater odds of renewing contract.

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Impact of Character on Contract Renewal

Renewing Contract

Team Spirit Identity Respect Initiative Competence Commitment

Character

Statistically Significant effect

As character increases, so do the

  • dds of renewing one’s contract.

For each 1-point increase in character, the

  • dds of renewing one’s

contract increased X%.

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Results – Impact of Character on Voluntary Separation

Variable Β Odds Ratio Standard Error z Intercept

  • 3.411

0.033 0.246

  • 13.87

Competence & Commitment

0.120 1.128 0.040 2.97

Team Spirit

0.048 1.050 0.027 1.79

Identity

  • 0.017

0.983 0.034

  • 0.50

Initiative

0.078 1.081 0.037 2.11

Respect

0.006 1.006 0.040 0.14

Age

0.066 1.069 0.006 11.40

Gender (Male)

  • 0.649

0.523 0.054

  • 11.93

Marital Status (Married)

0.234 1.264 0.058 4.05

Education (High School diploma or less)

  • 0.154

0.857 0.072

  • 2.15

Race-ethnicity (White)

0.275 1.317 0.057 4.84

AFQT percentile

0.005 1.005 0.001 3.55

  • Note. N = 10,770. Significant predictor effects (p<.05) are in bold.

Higher Competence & Commitment and Initiative predicted greater odds of voluntary separation.

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Impact of Character on Voluntary Separation

Voluntary Separation (vs Involuntary) 8.1% greater odds

Team Spirit Identity Respect Initiative Competence Commitment

Character

Statistically Significant effect

As character increases, so do the

  • dds of separating voluntarily.

For each 1-point increase in character, the odds of separating voluntarily increased X%.

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Results – Impact of Character on Character of Service: Uncharacterized Discharge

Higher Competence & Commitment, Identity, and Initiative predicted lower odds of receiving an uncharacterized discharge.

Variable Β Odds Ratio Standard Error z Intercept

2.401 11.034 0.424 5.66

Competence & Commitment

  • 0.149

0.862 0.063

  • 2.37

Team Spirit

0.031 1.031 0.044 0.71

Identity

  • 0.167

0.846 0.053

  • 3.12

Initiative

  • 0.316

0.729 0.054

  • 5.80

Respect

  • 0.007

0.993 0.064

  • 0.10

Age

  • 0.055

0.946 0.012

  • 4.41

Gender (Male)

  • 0.321

0.725 0.087

  • 3.71

Marital Status (Married)

  • 0.440

0.644 0.115

  • 3.83

Education (High School diploma or less)

  • 0.210

0.811 0.133

  • 1.58

Race-ethnicity (White)

  • 0.022

0.978 0.096

  • 0.23

AFQT percentile

  • 0.007

0.993 0.002

  • 3.14
  • Note. N = 10,809. Significant predictor effects (p<.05) are in bold.
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Impact of Character on Character of Service: Uncharacterized Discharge

Uncharacterized Discharge

Statistically Significant effect

27.1% lower odds

Team Spirit Identity Respect Initiative Competence Commitment

Character

As character increases, the odds

  • f an uncharacterized discharge

decreases. For each 1-point increase in character, the odds of an uncharacterized discharge decreased X%.

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Summary of Findings

  • Overall Army character was associated with greater retention across all four
  • utcomes.
  • In particular:

– Higher Identity and Initiative Completing initial Army service contract – Higher Team Spirit and Identity Renewing Army service contract – Higher Competence & Commitment and Initiative Separating from the Army voluntarily (rather than involuntarily) – Lower Identity, Initiative, and Competence & Commitment Uncharacterized discharge (leaving early in one’s contract)

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Limitations

  • Character was assessed via self-report.
  • Initial development of the scale was based on assessments completed during

the first full year of the GAT: FY2010.

  • Samples were comprised almost exclusively of enlisted Soldiers (99.3%).

– Contract length was obtained from MEPCOM data. Because very few officers are processed through MEPCOM stations, this resulted in a disproportionately low number of officers in each sample.

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Immediate Impact

  • Opportunities: The Army can use the ABC scale to examine how character

helps Soldiers accomplish the mission in the right way.

  • Recommendations:

– Refine the ABC scale to more fully assess identity as a Trusted Army Professional. – Compare the ABC’s predictive utility to that of other existing Army measures. – Examine whether indicators of character development are related to manner of performance and other important Army outcomes. – Measure character change as a function of leader development in education, training, and experience.

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Questions & Discussion