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18 Biobehavioral Resilience to Stress

Information Sharing

Information about personnel preservice adjustment can be useful at various
times and in various contexts throughout military service. Th is informa-
tion should be made more widely available to military trainers and leaders.

There are specific settings in which psychological screening and preservice

adjustment data could be used to support improved performance and success
of military personnel. For example, when military trainees perform poorly
during basic training, their leaders must order interventions to address and
resolve performance problems. Psychological screening data could help to
ensure that interventions are as appropriate as possible to individual needs

and issues. Likewise, military psychologists would probably find it helpful to
have access to prior psychological screening information that might inform
subsequent command-ordered evaluations to determine the need for inter-
vention or disciplinary action. In some cases, it would be helpful to the psy-
chologist to know if the individual had acknowledged a history of getting
into trouble and whether previous trouble had occurred prior to enlistment.
Psychological screening results could also be used as one component of pre-
screening for sensitive job positions. Individuals who acknowledged preserv-
ice antisocial behavior when they were originally screened at enlistment may

be effectively ruled out for subsequent, more stringent and discriminating
screening procedures that are required to qualify for certain job positions.
Taken together, the actions described here as recommendations would

promote significant advancement toward improved information gathering,

sharing, and usage. If gathered and applied effectively, psychological screening
data could be used not only to reduce military attrition and its associated

costs but also to improve the overall quality, strength, effectiveness, and sur-
vivability of U.S. military personnel.

References

Alvarado, G. F. & Breslau, N. (2005). Smoking and young people’s mental health.
Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 18, 397–400.
Apter, A., Plutchik, R. & van Praag, H. M. (1993). Anxiety, impulsivity and
depressed mood in relation to suicidal and violent behavior. Acta Psychiatrica
Scandinavica, 87, 1–5.
Barnes, J. D., Gaskins, R. C., III, Hansen, L. A., Laurence, J. H., Waters, B. K.,

Quenette, M. A. & Trent, T. (1989). The Adaptability Screening Profi le (ASP):
Background and Pilot Test Results. Alexandria, VA: Human Resources Research
Organization.
Bartone, P. T. (1999). Hardiness protects against war-related stress in army reserve
forces. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 51, 72–82.
Booth-Kewley, S., Larson, G. E. & Ryan, M. A. K. (2002). Predictions of naval
attrition. I. Analysis of 1-year attrition. Military Medicine, 167, 760–769.

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