Accession Number:

ADA076642

Title:

Predicting Military Delinquency

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

ARMY RESEARCH INST FOR THE BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES ALEXANDRIA VA

Personal Author(s):

• Bauer, Ronald G.
• Stout, Robert L.
• Holz, Robert F.

Report Date:

1976-08-01

Pagination or Media Count:

25.0

Abstract:

Social-psychological factors were assessed as possible predictors of military delinquency to increase the predictability or reduce the frequency of discipline problems in the Army. Data were collected by an anonymous self- administered questionnaire from a sample of 1,564 enlisted men stationed in the continental U.S., Alaska, and West Germany during 1973 and 1974 and selected to reflect the diverse composition of the Army. Respondents were asked a number of questions concerning their attitudes toward authority figures and perceptions of military life as well as standard social background such as education, relations with parents, and race. They were also asked how many times military authorities had charged them with being absent without leave AWOL or other offenses. In the sample studied, the social background variables of preservice delinquency, school expulsions, civilian arrests, and difficulty in holding a job were most predictive of self-reported AWOL, accounting for 16.6 of the variance. The same variables of preservice delinquency, school expulsions, and civilian arrests were most predictive of resistance to authority, while preservice delinquency and civilian arrests were the only significant predictors of general delinquency.

Descriptors:

• *DELINQUENCY
• *PREDICTIONS
• ALASKA
• ARMY PERSONNEL
• ATTITUDES(PSYCHOLOGY)
• MILITARY APPLICATIONS
• PARAMETERS
• PSYCHOLOGY
• QUESTIONNAIRES
• SOCIOLOGY
• UNITED STATES
• WEST GERMANY

Subject Categories:

• Sociology and Law
• Psychology

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE