DTIC ADA520666: Examination of the Relations of Personality to Enlisted Retention Decisions

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by  Defense Technical Information Center

AFRL-RH-WP-TR-2010-0074

Examination of the Relations of Personality to Enlisted
Retention Decisions

Rosalinda Vasquez Maury
Brice M. Stone

Vanalytic, Inc.
Under contract to:
Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation
Systems Engineering Solutions
2875 Presidential Drive, Suite 180
Fairborn OH 45344-6269

Thomas R. Carretta

Warfighter Interface Division
Supervisory Control Interfaces Branch
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7511

January 2010
Final Report

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.

See additional restrictions described on inside pages

AIR FORCE RESEARCH LABORATORY
TH
711 HUMAN PERFORMANCE WING,
HUMAN EFFECTIVENESS DIRECTORATE,
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OH 45433
AIR FORCE MATERIEL COMMAND
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
NOTICE AND SIGNATURE PAGE

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This report was cleared for public release by the 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs Office and is
available to the general public, including foreign nationals.

Qualified requestors may be obtained from the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC)
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AFRL-RH-WP-TR-2010-0074 HAS BEEN REVIEWED AND IS APPROVED FOR
PUBLICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ASSIGNED DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT.

//signed// //signed//
Thomas R. Carretta Gregory J. Barbato
Research Engineering Psychologist Chief, Supervisory Control Interfaces Branch
Supervisory Control Interfaces Branch Warfighter Interface Division

//signed//
Michael A. Stropki
Chief, Warfighter Interfaces Division
Human Effectiveness Directorate

This report is published in the interest of scientific and technical information exchange, and its
publication does not constitute the Government’s approval or disapproval of its ideas or findings.
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PLEASE DO NOT RETURN YOUR FORM TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS.
1. REPORT DATE (DD-MM-YYYY) 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED (From - To)
19-01-2010 Final January 2009 – December 2009
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER
Examination of the Relations of Personality to Enlisted Retention Decisions FA8650-08-D-6801 TO 13
5b. GRANT NUMBER
NA
5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER
62202F
6. AUTHOR(S 5d. PROJECT NUMBER
Rosalinda Vasquez Maury*, Brice M. Stone*, & Thomas R. Carretta** 2313
5e. TASK NUMBER
HC
5f. WORK UNIT NUMBER
2313HC58
7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation* REPORT NUMBER
Systems Engineering Solutions NA
2875 Presidential Drive, Suite 180
Fairborn OH 45344-6269
9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10. SPONSOR/MONITOR'SACRONYM(S)
Air Force Materiel Command** 711 HPW/RHCI
Air Force Research Laboratory
11. SPONSORING/MONITORING
711th Human Performance Wing
AGENCY REPORT NUMBER
Human Effectiveness Directorate
Warfighter Interface Division AFRL-RH-WP-TR-2010 -0074
Supervisory Control Interfaces Branch
Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433-7511
12. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited.
13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
88 ABW Cleared 05/24/2010; 88ABW-2010-2832.
14. ABSTRACT Organizational effectiveness depends on the ability to recruit, select and classify, train, and retain well-qualified personnel.
Although these challenges apply to any organization, they can be especially difficult for the military with its unique organizational structure and job
requirements. Retention efforts focus on providing incentives for military members to stay in the military. The purpose of this effort was to examine
whetrher selection factors that have shown utility for predicting training and job performance are also related to retention decisions. Our objective
was to determine whether generic non-cognitive profiles could be identified for enlisted military personnel who tend to stay (or leave) the military.
Analyses of experimental personality measures indicated statistically significant, but weak relationships with retention decisions. Scores for three of
the Big Five domains (Neuroticism, Openness, and Extraversion were related to retention. Those who chose to stay in were more emotionally
stable, less extraverted, and less open than those who chose to separate. Three biodata measures (marital status, number of dependents, and enlisted
grade) exhibited strong relations with retention. When these biodata variables were used as a baseline, the incremental validity of the personality
measures was very small.

15. SUBJECT TERMS
Undergraduate Air Battle Manager training, Air force Officer Qualifying Test, predictive validation
16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: 17. LIMITATION OF 18. NUMBER 19a. NAME OF RESPONSIBLE PERSON
Unclassified ABSTRACT OF PAGES Thomas R. Carretta

a. REPORT b. ABSTRACT c. THIS PAGE UNL 630 19b. TELEPONE NUMBER (Include area code)

U U U [phone]
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CONTENTS
PREFACE ………………………………………..……………………………………………. v
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 1 
1.0  INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 2 
2.0  BFI/SDI ITEM-LEVEL SCORES AND ENLISTED RETENTION .................................. 3 
2.1 Data Preparation .................................................................................................................... 3 
2.2 BFI/SDI Items ...................................................................................................................... 4 
2.3 Rescaling of BFI/SDI ........................................................................................................... 5 
2.4 Correlations for BFI/SDI Items and Years of Active Duty Service .................................... 5 
2.5 Cross Tabulations and Pearson Chi-Square Test ................................................................. 9 
2.6 t-tests Performed on the BFI/SDI Items Testing for Differences in Retainees versus
Separators .................................................................................................................................. 13 
2.7 Comparison of Correlations and t-tests for Items Exhibiting Statistically Significant
Results ....................................................................................................................................... 16 
2.8 The Big Five Personality Traits ......................................................................................... 20 
2.9 BDI/SDI Items With Respect to Air Force Security Forces Career Field ......................... 22 
2.10 Developing a Profile Model Based on the BFI/SDI Item Analysis Results .................... 23
3.0 CONCLUSION……..………………………………………...…………………………...30
REFERENCES..... ......................................................................................................................... 31 
APPENDIX A - Correlations for all BFI/SDI Items .................................................................... 32 
APPENDIX B - Cross Tabulation Results Performed by Four Year Enlistment, Six Year
Enlistment and Both of Terms of Enlistment ............................................................................... 46 
APPENDIX C - t-Test Results for the BFI/SDI by Four Year Enlistment ................................. 348 
APPENDIX D - t-Test Results for the BFI/SDI by Six Year Enlistment ................................... 393 
APPENDIX E - t-Test Results for the BFI/SDI by Commitment Met ....................................... 438 
APPENDIX F - Definitions for All BFI/SDI Items .................................................................... 482 
APPENDIX G - t-Test Results for the Big Five Personality Traits ............................................ 486 
APPENDIX H - t-Test Results for Security Forces .................................................................... 491 

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FIGURES
Number Page
Figure 1. Distribution of bfi053 (moody) by First Term Retention Regardless of Term of
Enlistment ..................................................................................................................................... 10 

TABLES
Number Page
1 Correlations for Years of Active Duty Service and BFI/SDI Items ............................. 6
2 First Term Retention by Term of Enlistment ................................................................ 9
3 Distribution of bfi053 (moody) by First Term Retention Regardless of Term of
Enlistment …………………………………………………………………………. 10
4 BFI/SDI Exhibiting Statistically Significantly Different Distribution of Test Scores
for First Term Retention Regardless of Term of Enlistment ........................................ 11
5 Statistically Significant t-tests for BFI/SDI Items by First Term Retention Regardless
of the Term of Enlistment ............................................................................................ 13
6 Statistically Significant Correlations and T-tests for BFI and SDI Items ..................... 17
7 Big Five Personality Domains and Example Facets ……………………………….. 21
8 t-tests for the Big Five Composites by First Term Retention, Four and Six Year
Enlistees ..................................................................................................................... 21
9 t-tests for BFI/SDI Items for First Term Retention Restricted to the Security Forces
Career Field, Four and Six Year Enlistees .................................................................... 22
10 Estimated Logit Profile Model Using Only the Statistically Significant BFI/SDI and
Big Five Composites: First Term Retention Regardless of the Term of Enlistment .... 24
11 Summary Prediction Statistics for Estimated Logit Profile Model Using Only the
Statistically Significant BFI/SDI and Big Five Composites: First Term Retention
Regardless of the Term of Enlistment .......................................................................... 26
12 Estimated Logit Profile Model Using the Statistically Significant BFI/SDI and Big
Five Composites with Three Additional Explanatory Variables: First Term
Retention Regardless of the Term of Enlistment .......................................................... 26
13 Summary Prediction Statistics for Estimated Logit Profile Model Using the
Statistically Significant BFI/SDI and Big Five Composites with Three Additional
Explanatory Variables: First Term Retention Regardless of the Term of Enlistment .. 28
14 Estimated Stepwise Logit Profile Model Using the Statistically Significant BFI/SDI
and Big Five Composites with Three Additional Explanatory Variables: First Term
Retention Regardless of the Term of Enlistment .......................................................... 29
15 Summary Prediction Statistics for Estimated Stepwise Logit Profile Model Using the
Statistically Significant BFI/SDI and Big Five Composites with Three Additional
Explanatory Variables: First Term Retention Regardless of the Term of Enlistment .. 29

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GLOSSARY

AF/A1PF Air Force Manpower & Personnel Force Management Policy Division
AFOQT Air Force Officer Qualifying Test
AFPC Air Force Personnel Center
AFPC/DSYX Air Force Personnel Center, Strategic Research & Assessment
AFQT Armed Forces Qualifying Test
ASVAB Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery
BFI Big Five Inventory
C-BFI Computerized Big Five Inventory
C-SDI Computerized Self-Description Inventory
DMDC Defense Manpower Data Center
KSAOs Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics
LAMP Learning Abilities Measurement Program
P-BFI Paper-and-Pencil Big Five Inventory
P-SDI Paper-and-Pencil Self-Description Inventory
SDI Self-Description Inventory
TOE Term of Enlistment
UAR Uniform Airman Records
USAF United States Air Force

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PREFACE

This report describes activities performed in support of USAF personnel selection and
classification (AF/A1PF), Work Unit 2313HC58. The authors thank Mr Ken Schwartz and Mr.
Johnny Weissmuller (AFPC/DSYX) and the AFPC Human Resources Research Data Bank
(HRRD) for support in the development of the database used in this study.
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