Distinctive military attitudes among U.S. enlistees, 1976-1997: Self-selection versus socialization

Armed Forces and Society

Volumn 26, Issue 4, 2000, Pages 561-585

  Bachman, Jerald G ^a   Freedman Doan, Peter ^b   Segal, David R ^b   O'Malley, Patrick M ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN   (United States)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0034391962     PISSN: 0095327X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X0002600404     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Jerald G. Bachman, Lee Sigelman, and Greg Diamond, "Self-Selection, Socialization, and Distinctive Military Values," Armed Forces & Society 13 (1987).
2. C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956); and Roben Perrucci and Mark Pilisuk, "The Warfare State," in The Triple Revolution Emerging, ed. Robert Perrucci and Mark Pilisuk (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1971).
3. C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956); and Roben Perrucci and Mark Pilisuk, "The Warfare State," in The Triple Revolution Emerging, ed. Robert Perrucci and Mark Pilisuk (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1971).
4. Samuel P. Huntington, The Soldier and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957, reprint, New York: Vintage Press, 1964); Morris Janowitz, The Professional Soldier (New York: Free Press, 1960); and Charles C. Moskos, Jr., The American Enlisted Man (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1970).
5. Samuel P. Huntington, The Soldier and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957, reprint, New York: Vintage Press, 1964); Morris Janowitz, The Professional Soldier (New York: Free Press, 1960); and Charles C. Moskos, Jr., The American Enlisted Man (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1970).
6. Samuel P. Huntington, The Soldier and the State (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1957, reprint, New York: Vintage Press, 1964); Morris Janowitz, The Professional Soldier (New York: Free Press, 1960); and Charles C. Moskos, Jr., The American Enlisted Man (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1970).
7. James E. Dorman, "ROTC Cadet Attitudes: A Product of Socialization or Self-Selection?" Journal of Political and Military Sociology 4 (Fall 1976): 204.
8. Thomas E. Ricks, Making the Corps (New York: Scribner, 1997); Thomas E. Ricks, "The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society," The Atlantic Monthly 280 (July 1997): 66-78; Clarence Page, "Soldier vs. Civilians: A Widening Gap," Chicago Tribune, Sunday, 16 November 1997: 21.
9. Thomas E. Ricks, Making the Corps (New York: Scribner, 1997); Thomas E. Ricks, "The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society," The Atlantic Monthly 280 (July 1997): 66-78; Clarence Page, "Soldier vs. Civilians: A Widening Gap," Chicago Tribune, Sunday, 16 November 1997: 21.
10. Thomas E. Ricks, Making the Corps (New York: Scribner, 1997); Thomas E. Ricks, "The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society," The Atlantic Monthly 280 (July 1997): 66-78; Clarence Page, "Soldier vs. Civilians: A Widening Gap," Chicago Tribune, Sunday, 16 November 1997: 21.
11. Deborah Avant, "Conflicting Indicators of 'Crisis' in American Civil-Military Relations," Armed Forces & Society 24 (1998): 373-387.
12. Ole R. Holsti, "A Widening Gap Between the U.S. Military and Civilian Society? Some Evidence, 1976-1996," International Security 23 (1998/99): 149-178.
13. Holsti, "A Widening Gap," International Security: Ole R. Holsti, "A Widening Gap Between the U.S. Military and Civilian Society: Some Further Evidence, 1998-1999." Paper presented at a conference on "Bridging the Gap," Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS), Chapel Hill, NC, July 1999.
14. Holsti, "A Widening Gap," International Security: Ole R. Holsti, "A Widening Gap Between the U.S. Military and Civilian Society: Some Further Evidence, 1998-1999." Paper presented at a conference on "Bridging the Gap," Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS), Chapel Hill, NC, July 1999.
15. For example, Huntington, The Soldier; Bengt Abrahamsson, Military Professionalism and Political Power (London: Sage Publications, 1972).
16. For example, Huntington, The Soldier; Bengt Abrahamsson, Military Professionalism and Political Power (London: Sage Publications, 1972).
17. For example, James Kitfield, "Standing Apart," National Journal, June 13, 1998: 1350-1358; Tom Ricks, "The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society," Atlantic Monthly (July 1997): 66-78.
18. For example, James Kitfield, "Standing Apart," National Journal, June 13, 1998: 1350-1358; Tom Ricks, "The Widening Gap Between the Military and Society," Atlantic Monthly (July 1997): 66-78.
19. Richard Kohn, "Out of Control: The Crisis in Civil-Military Relations," National Interest (Spring 1994): 3-17; Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., "Welcome to the Junta: The Erosion of Civilian Control of the U.S. Military," Wake Forest Law Review 29 (Summer 1994): 341-392; William Pfaff, "Beware of a Military Penchant for a Parallel Foreign Policy," International Herald Tribune, September 22, 1999.
20. Richard Kohn, "Out of Control: The Crisis in Civil-Military Relations," National Interest (Spring 1994): 3-17; Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., "Welcome to the Junta: The Erosion of Civilian Control of the U.S. Military," Wake Forest Law Review 29 (Summer 1994): 341-392; William Pfaff, "Beware of a Military Penchant for a Parallel Foreign Policy," International Herald Tribune, September 22, 1999.
21. Richard Kohn, "Out of Control: The Crisis in Civil-Military Relations," National Interest (Spring 1994): 3-17; Charles J. Dunlap, Jr., "Welcome to the Junta: The Erosion of Civilian Control of the U.S. Military," Wake Forest Law Review 29 (Summer 1994): 341-392; William Pfaff, "Beware of a Military Penchant for a Parallel Foreign Policy," International Herald Tribune, September 22, 1999.
22. Holsti, "A Widening Gap," International Security; Holsti, "A Widening Gap," TISS paper; Sam C. Sarkesian, John A. Williams, and Fred B. Bryant, Soldiers, Society, and National Security (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995).
23. Holsti, "A Widening Gap," International Security; Holsti, "A Widening Gap," TISS paper; Sam C. Sarkesian, John A. Williams, and Fred B. Bryant, Soldiers, Society, and National Security (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995).
24. Holsti, "A Widening Gap," International Security; Holsti, "A Widening Gap," TISS paper; Sam C. Sarkesian, John A. Williams, and Fred B. Bryant, Soldiers, Society, and National Security (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1995).
25. Jerald G. Bachman, John D. Blair, and David Segal, The All-Volunteer Force: A Study of Ideology in the Military (Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1977).
26. Bachman et al., "Self-Selection."
27. Ibid., 184.
28. Bachman et al., "Self-Selection."
29. One such analysis has already been reported, using methods identical to those employed in the present article but focusing on drug use rather than on military attitudes. This analysis found clear evidence of both self-selection and socialization in response to recent military "zero-tolerance" policies (see Jerald G. Bachman, Peter Freedman-Doan, Patrick M. O'Malley, Lloyd D. Johnston, and David R. Segal, "Changing Patterns of Drug Use among U.S. Military Recruits before and after Enlistment," American Journal of Public Health 89 [1999]: 672-677). Specifically, after the armed forces instituted mandatory testing for illegal drug use in 1980, use of marijuana and also of cocaine dropped more sharply among military recruits than among their civilian counterparts (when contrasted with their use during the senior year of high school); this pattern of differential change in illicit drug use linked to military service is consistent with a socialization interpretation. In contrast, it appears that the introduction of tobacco-free basic training in 1989 did not lead to any long-term reduction in smoking by recruits; instead, it appears that some who were regular (half pack a day or more) smokers as high school seniors opted not to enlist - a pattern consistent with the self-selection interpretation. These findings are also consistent with analyses indicating that regular cigarette use among young adults is far more resistant to change than are other forms of drug use (see Jerald G. Bachman et al., Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use in Young Adulthood [Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997]).
30. One such analysis has already been reported, using methods identical to those employed in the present article but focusing on drug use rather than on military attitudes. This analysis found clear evidence of both self-selection and socialization in response to recent military "zero-tolerance" policies (see Jerald G. Bachman, Peter Freedman-Doan, Patrick M. O'Malley, Lloyd D. Johnston, and David R. Segal, "Changing Patterns of Drug Use among U.S. Military Recruits before and after Enlistment," American Journal of Public Health 89 [1999]: 672-677). Specifically, after the armed forces instituted mandatory testing for illegal drug use in 1980, use of marijuana and also of cocaine dropped more sharply among military recruits than among their civilian counterparts (when contrasted with their use during the senior year of high school); this pattern of differential change in illicit drug use linked to military service is consistent with a socialization interpretation. In contrast, it appears that the introduction of tobacco-free basic training in 1989 did not lead to any long-term reduction in smoking by recruits; instead, it appears that some who were regular (half pack a day or more) smokers as high school seniors opted not to enlist - a pattern consistent with the self-selection interpretation. These findings are also consistent with analyses indicating that regular cigarette use among young adults is far more resistant to change than are other forms of drug use (see Jerald G. Bachman et al., Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use in Young Adulthood [Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997]).
31. Jerald G. Bachman, Lloyd D. Johnston, and Patrick M. O'Malley, The Monitoring the Future Project After Twenty-Two Years: Design and Procedures, MTF Occasional Paper 38 (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 1996); Bachman et al., Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use; Lloyd D. Johnston, Patrick M. O'Malley, and Jerald G. Bachman, National Survey Results on Drug Use From the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1998: Secondary School Students, vol 1. NIH publication 99-4660; College Students and Young Adults, vol 2. NIH publication 99-4661 (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1999).
32. Jerald G. Bachman, Lloyd D. Johnston, and Patrick M. O'Malley, The Monitoring the Future Project After Twenty-Two Years: Design and Procedures, MTF Occasional Paper 38 (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 1996); Bachman et al., Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use; Lloyd D. Johnston, Patrick M. O'Malley, and Jerald G. Bachman, National Survey Results on Drug Use From the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1998: Secondary School Students, vol 1. NIH publication 99-4660; College Students and Young Adults, vol 2. NIH publication 99-4661 (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1999).
33. Jerald G. Bachman, Lloyd D. Johnston, and Patrick M. O'Malley, The Monitoring the Future Project After Twenty-Two Years: Design and Procedures, MTF Occasional Paper 38 (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 1996); Bachman et al., Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use; Lloyd D. Johnston, Patrick M. O'Malley, and Jerald G. Bachman, National Survey Results on Drug Use From the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1998: Secondary School Students, vol 1. NIH publication 99-4660; College Students and Young Adults, vol 2. NIH publication 99-4661 (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1999).
34. Jerald G. Bachman, Lloyd D. Johnston, and Patrick M. O'Malley, The Monitoring the Future Project After Twenty-Two Years: Design and Procedures, MTF Occasional Paper 38 (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 1996); Bachman et al., Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use; Lloyd D. Johnston, Patrick M. O'Malley, and Jerald G. Bachman, National Survey Results on Drug Use From the Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1998: Secondary School Students, vol 1. NIH publication 99-4660; College Students and Young Adults, vol 2. NIH publication 99-4661 (Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1999).
35. A senior class sample is drawn each year using a three-stage probability sampling design to select approximately 130 public and private high schools representative of those in the 48 contiguous states. Professional interviewers from the Institute for Social Research supervise survey activities at the school site, usually during regular classroom periods in March, April, or May. All respondents are asked to fill out one of six forms of a 45-minute, paper and pencil, self-administered questionnaire. Student response rates vary from school to school, between 75 percent and 100 percent, producing sample sizes of roughly 17,000 seniors each year. Because of changes in the questionnaire design after 1975, we report data from classes beginning in 1976.
36. From each senior class, 2,400 seniors are selected for follow-up and randomly divided into two groups, each numbering about 1,200. Members of one group are mailed questionnaires one year after graduation and every two years thereafter; those in the other group are mailed questionnaires two years after graduation and every two years thereafter. Thus, individual participants are surveyed on a two-year cycle, beginning either one or two years after graduation, for a total of up to seven followups. Respondents are paid $5 ($10 beginning with the class of 1991) for each follow-up participation. The follow-up samples are drawn so as to be largely self-weighting; however, because the primary focus of the study is on drug use, users of illicit drugs are oversampled for follow-ups (by a factor of three to one). Accordingly, all analyses adjust for these differential selection probabilities by using weights of 1.0 for most respondents and 0.333 for those who were oversampled. The result is an unbiased sample with weighted Ns that are somewhat smaller than the actual numbers of cases. In this report, we use senior year data from the classes of 1976 through 1995, with follow-ups through 1997.
37. Jerald G. Bachman, David R. Segal, Peter Freedman-Doan, and Patrick M. O'Malley, "Military Propensity and the Propensity-Enlistment Relationship," Armed Forces & Society 25 (Fall 1998): 59-80.
38. Jerald G. Bachman, David R. Segal, Peter Freedman-Doan, and Patrick M. O'Malley, "Who Chooses Military Service? Correlates of Propensity and Enlistment in the United States Armed Forces," Military Psychology 12 (January 2000).
39. Bachman et al., "Self-Selection."
40. Although corrections for design effects are required in analyses involving full-sample Monitoring the Future surveys of high school students, because of sampling clustering in schools, the follow-up samples are much smaller and thus involve relatively little clustering. Moreover, the weights in the follow-up surveys (unlike the high school ones) are equal, except that those oversampled for follow-up (by a factor of three to one, see Note 20) are given lower weights (0.333). Thus the weighted Ns slightly understate the actual numbers of cases, producing essentially the same result as if we had adjusted for the very modest design effect that would be involved. Accordingly, all statistical analyses are conducted using simple random sample methods applied to the weighted (and thus modestly understated) Ns.
41. Bachman et al., "Self-Selection," 169-187.
42. Ibid., 181.
43. Bachman et al., "Self-Selection."
44. Don M. Snider, Roben A. Priest, and Felisa Lewis, "The Influence of Professional Military Education at the Assession Level on Changing Civilian and Military Opinion." Paper prepared for conference on "Bridging the Gap" for Social Studies (TISS), Chapel Hill, NC, July 1999.
45. Peter Freedman-Doan, Jerald G. Bachman, and Patrick M. O'Malley, "Is There a Gap Between Soldiers and Civilians? Comparing the Political Attitudes of Young Recruits With Their Non-Service Peers, 1976-1997" (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 1999); David R. Segal, Peter Freedman-Doan, Jerald G. Bachman. Patrick M. O'Malley, "Attitudes of Entry-Level Enlisted Personnel: Pro-Military and Politically Mainstreamed." Paper prepared for the Triangle Institute for Security Studies project on the gap between the military and civilian society, 1999.
46. Peter Freedman-Doan, Jerald G. Bachman, and Patrick M. O'Malley, "Is There a Gap Between Soldiers and Civilians? Comparing the Political Attitudes of Young Recruits With Their Non-Service Peers, 1976-1997" (Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, 1999); David R. Segal, Peter Freedman-Doan, Jerald G. Bachman. Patrick M. O'Malley, "Attitudes of Entry-Level Enlisted Personnel: Pro-Military and Politically Mainstreamed." Paper prepared for the Triangle Institute for Security Studies project on the gap between the military and civilian society, 1999.
47. Bachman et al., "Changing Patterns."
48. See Jerald G. Bachman et al., All-Volunteer Force, for an example distinguishing between servicemen with greater and lesser career commitments; for another contrast between high school seniors who do and do not expect careers, see Bachman et al., "Self-Selection."
49. See Jerald G. Bachman et al., All-Volunteer Force, for an example distinguishing between servicemen with greater and lesser career commitments; for another contrast between high school seniors who do and do not expect careers, see Bachman et al., "Self-Selection."
50. Segal et al., "Attitudes."