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This study demonstrated that traits and features associated with several types of personality disorders are related to work performance and the ability to conform to requirements of military life. The Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality and a peer nomination procedure were used to assess traits associated with 10 types of personality disorders in a sample of 1,080 Air Force recruits (57% male) at the end of basic military training. Correlations between self-report and peer nomination scores for each set of traits ranged from 0.24 to 0.13, indicating only modest convergence. Follow-up data, collected 2 years later, indicated that several scores from the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality and the peer nomination procedure were significantly related to early discharge from the military. Peers provide useful information that is not redundant with that provided by the individual. When possible, assessment of personality problems should be considered from information obtained from peers or other informants.

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The ability of the participants to adapt successfully to the Mars day suggests that future missions should utilize a similar circadian rhythm and fatigue management program to reduce the risk of sleepiness-related errors that jeopardize personnel safety and health during critical missions.

The purpose of the current investigation was to determine the prospective predictors of discharge in a population of individuals entering U.S. Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT). Subjects were 32,144 consecutive individuals entering Air Force BMT. In the first week, subjects filled out a comprehensive lifestyle and behavioral assessment. Over time, a total of 1,999 subjects (6.2%) dropped out of BMT for a variety of reasons, the most common being medical (33.6%), psychiatric (21.3%), legal (20%), and poor performance (13.1%). Overall, discharges by gender were equal, but the reasons for discharge varied by gender. Ethnicity predicted for medical, psychiatric, and legal discharge. Results suggest that women and ethnic minorities are not biased in favor of discharge and that both lifestyle and psychosocial variables are consistent predictors of discharge. Future research could potentially yield other significant predictors of success versus discharge in the U.S. military.

We examined the joint interview interrater reliability of the Structured Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Personality Disorders (SIDP-IV) in 433 non-treatment-seeking military recruits. Reliability was computed for the diagnosis of a specific personality disorder (PD) and for the number of PD criteria present, and computed using a dimensional score. Reliability increased when PDs were computed using dimensional scores rather than categorical scores. Avoidant and dependent PDs demonstrated the highest interrater reliability, whereas schizoid and schizotypal showed the lowest. This large sample allowed us to perform item-level analyses of the SIDP-IV. Interrater reliability for each of the PD criteria was generally more than 0.70, with the notable exception of criteria scored through observation only. Overall, the SIDP-IV demonstrated good reliability in a non-treatment-seeking population.