The Relationship of Satisfiers--Dissatisfiers in a Military Unit to Re-Enlistment.

The Career Attitude Survey was administered to 240 first term airmen and 160 in their second or greater terms. By comparing these two groups it was hoped that the basis for reenlistment might be further illuminated. Only about one third of the first termers will reenlist so this group could conservatively be considered the deenlistment sample. A discriminant analysis showed that the two samples could be successfully separated at the .001 level. Number of children, intention to reenlist, Air Force should be more military, decision influenced wife, friends pleased with decision, luck not basis for advancement, were among twenty major variables discriminating in favor of reenlistment. This study confirmed earlier studies indicating that the best single predictor of reenlistment is to ask them. Only eleven of the first term were classified with the second term and eighteen of the second term were found matching the first term more closely. These misclassifications although minimal could be associated with recent second term reenlistments and first termers who do intend to reenlist. Author