Effects of Psychosocial Resources on Elite Soldiers' Completion of a Demanding Military Selection Program

Gruber, Kerry A.; Kilcullen, Robert N.; Iso‐Ahola, Seppo E.

doi:10.1080/08995600903206354

Cited by 24 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…An interesting parallel can be drawn to Schmitt, Cortina, Ingerick, and Wiechmann (2003: 78), who argued that "one must be both able and motivated to perform well, and if either of these characteristics is low or absent, performance will be inadequate." Similarly, in a study of a very physically demanding selection program in the US Special Forces, researchers found that selfefficacy had a significant impact as to whether the soldiers completed the hard physical selection or not (Gruber, Kilcullen and Iso-Ahola 2009).…”

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confidence: 97%

The relationships between academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and perceived competence

Buch

Säfvenbom

Boe³

2015

Journal of Military Studies

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This study investigated the moderating role of intrinsic motivation for military studies on the relationship between academic self-efficacy and change in perceived military competence. We present two concurrent hypotheses based on theoretical interaction effects of intrinsic motivation. Data from 245 cadets from three military academies revealed a positive relationship between self-efficacy and an increase in perceived military competence only for cadets with lower levels of intrinsic motivation. This suggests that, with lower intrinsic motivation, beliefs about one’s capabilities to organize and take courses of action to attain certain goals may make a crucial difference in cadets’ compliance to exert effort to increase their military competence. In contrast, self-efficacy seems less important for increased perception of military competence in cadets with higher intrinsic motivation. These cadets probably increase their military competence mainly as a result of the pleasure they gain when engaging in educational activities. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

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confidence: 97%

The relationships between academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and perceived competence

Buch

Säfvenbom

Boe³

2015

Journal of Military Studies

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“…The study of mattering has primarily focused on aspects of psychological and physical wellness (e.g., Corbière & Amundson, 2007;DeForge, Belcher, O'Rourke, & Lindsey, 2008;Elliott et al, 2005;Elliott et al, 2004;Josselson, 1998;Lewis & Taylor, 2009;Marcus, 1991;Powers, Myers, Tingle, & Powers, 2004;Raque-Bogdan, Ericson, Jackson, Martin, & Bryan, 2011;Schieman & Taylor, 2001;Taylor & Turner, 2001), life and job satisfaction (e.g., Connolly & Myers, 2003;Corbière & Amundson, 2007;Goodman, Schlossberg, & Anderson, 2006), the adolescent experience (e.g., Dixon-Rayle, 2005;Dixon-Rayle & Myers, 2004;Dixon, Scheidegger, & McWhirter, 2009;Dixon & Tucker, 2008;Elliott, 2009;Mak & Marshall, 2004;Marshall, 2001Marshall, , 2004Marshall & Lambert, 2006;Rosenberg & McCullough, 1981), and to a lesser degree on 46 college students and student outcomes (e.g., Butcher, 1997;Dixon-Rayle & Chung, 2007;Dixon & Kurpius, 2008;France, 2011;Gibson & Myers, 2006;Gonzalez, 1989;Gruber, Kilcullen, & Iso-Ahola, 2009;Hawk & Lyons, 2008;Isaacson, 2009;Kodama, 2002;Marshall, Liu, Wu, Berzonsky, & Adams, 2010;Myers & Bec...…”

Section: The Study Of Matteringmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Conceptual Model on the Impact of Mattering, Sense of Belonging, Engagement/Involvement, and Socio-Academic Integrative Experiences on Community College Students’ Intent to Persist

Tovar¹

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Community colleges continue to experience high levels of student attrition and low degree/certificate completion rates. Given extant literature, there appears to be a need to reexamine how interactions between students and the institution, and students and institutional agents are taking place, with the aim of identifying institutional practices that deleteriously or positively impact degree completion and thus guide colleges to develop action plans to improve conditions for student success.This study examined how factors such as institutional commitment to students, mattering, sense of belonging, interactions with diverse peers, perceptions of the campus climate, engagement/involvement, socio-academic integrative experiences, and goal commitment collectively affected community college students' intent to persist to degree completion. The proposed model tested the tenability of seven propositions examining how the above constructs interact to influence intent to persist.The sample consisted of 2,088 multiply diverse community college students. The conceptual model was grounded on Astin's (1991) Input-Environment-Outcome model and was tested in the context of structural equation modeling. Multiple group invariance analyses for race/ethnicity were conducted. The conceptual model explained 28% of the variance on intent to persist for Asian students, 21% for White students, and 19% for Latino/a students.Results indicated that transition support from family/friends exerted the highest effect on intent to persist across all racial/ethnic groups, followed by engagement/involvement, perceptions of mattering, interactions with diverse peers, GPA, goal commitment, and socioacademic integrative experiences, albeit varying by group. This study was the first in the literature to empirically demonstrate a causal effect between institutional commitment to students and perceptions of mattering. Mattering, in turn, exerted a moderate to strong influence on engagement/involvement, socio-academic integrative experiences, sense of belonging, and indirectly on intent to persist. Evidence in support of an omnibus "student development and success" construct, as alluded to by Wolf-Wendel, et al. (2009) is also presented. Of import to these findings is that while this construct explained a significant proportion of the variance for engagement/involvement, belonging, mattering, and interactions with diverse peers, the individual factors exerted an independent effect on intent to persist. Implications for theory, research, and practice are also discussed.v Dedication To the institutional agents (instructors and counselors) who made a difference in my life.Thank you for making me feel like I mattered! vi Acknowledgements

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“…However, it also involves menial and repetitive tasks such as ensuring that military and personal equipment is clean and well maintained at all times and dealing with the frustration of long periods of low demand and boredom (Maddi, 2013). Emotional and psychological resources help with managing stressful situations when these are encountered (Gruber, Kilcullen & Iso-Ahola, 2009) and are therefore also important for those working in the military context (Bates et al, 2010;Lee, Sudom & McCreary, 2011).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is in line with modern trends internationally where a number of wide-scale studies have been undertaken to evaluate the role of positive-psychology constructs within the broader military context (Seligman & Fowler, 2011) as well as in the Special Forces context (Bartone et al, 2008). Due to the extreme physical and mental challenges that individuals in the Special Forces context often have to deal with, aspects such as physical and emotional resilience; physical, emotional and mental strength; grit; tenacity and perseverance have been the focus of a growing conversation around the profiling, screening and selection and training of these individuals (Bartone et al, 2008;Gruber et al 2009;Hunt et al, 2013).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Special Forces selection in South Africa represents a situation that is stressful at a physical, cognitive, emotional and interpersonal level -similar to elite military selection processes in other countries (Bartone et al, 2008;Hystad, Eid, Laberg & Bartone 2011;Hunt et al, 2013). The selection process is specifically designed to be challenging on various levels as peak physical and mental performance during extremely stressful conditions is what the subsequent work context will demand (Bartone et al, 2008;Gruber et al, 2009;Hunt et al, 2013).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the role of motivational and coping resources in a Special Forces selection process

Beer

Heerden

2014

SA j ind psychol

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Orientation: Motivational and coping resources were explored within a military context by means of a mixed-methods survey study involving a group of Special Forces candidates.Research purpose: The purpose was to compare selected and not-selected candidates in terms of their sense of coherence, hardiness, locus of control and self-efficacy and to explore what they considered important for success in the selection process.Motivation for the study: Because of high attrition rates in Special Forces selection, the evaluation of the role of motivation and coping resources in terms of possible predictive utility could benefit the organisation from a logistical, financial and efficiency point of view.Research design, approach and method: A mixed-method cross-sectional survey design was used to assess an all-male candidate group (N = 73). The selected and not-selected groups were compared with regard to their sense of coherence, hardiness, locus of control and self-efficacy mean scores.Main findings: No statistically significant differences were found between the mean scores of the two groups concerning the quantitative measures used.Practical/managerial implications: The quantitative measures generally showed acceptable coefficient alpha reliabilities. Although no statistically significant mean differences were found between the groups, candidates showed high levels of sense of coherence, high levels of self-efficacy and average levels of hardiness and internal locus of control. The qualitative data confirmed the relevance of the quantitative constructs and pointed to additional aspects already considered in preparation for and during the selection process.Contribution/value-add: The results provide information regarding the constructs and measures used in a military context.

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Effects of Psychosocial Resources on Elite Soldiers' Completion of a Demanding Military Selection Program

Cited by 24 publications

References 32 publications

The relationships between academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and perceived competence

The relationships between academic self-efficacy, intrinsic motivation, and perceived competence

A Conceptual Model on the Impact of Mattering, Sense of Belonging, Engagement/Involvement, and Socio-Academic Integrative Experiences on Community College Students’ Intent to Persist

Exploring the role of motivational and coping resources in a Special Forces selection process

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