Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:19:03.717Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Attempt to use the MMPI as a Predictor of Failure in Military Training

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

John P. Callan
John P. Callan*
Affiliation:
American Board of Psychology and Neurology, Mental Hygiene Consultation Service, Department of Neuropsychiatry, U.S. General Leonard Wood Army Hospital, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; Psychiatric Clinic, Saint Francis Hospital, 114 Woodland Street, Hartford, Connecticut 06105, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

During World War II psychiatric screening to exclude ineffective soldiers from active duty consisted of interviews of three to six minutes duration. These interviews were described as successful by Bloomberg and Hyde (1), and by Leavitt (2). But six years later Bloomberg admitted that induction screening had proved ineffective, and suggested continuous observation for the first six months of military service to separate those who would adjust from those who would not (3). This concept of prolonged observation was supported by the wartime findings of Egan et al. (4) and Aita (5). Egan's group examined the records of 2,054 men who had been psychiatrically rejected on the basis of a short interview, but who later served; 79.4 per cent rendered satisfactory service. Aita's five-year follow-up showed that of 100 soldiers considered borderline on interview 21 per cent failed to render satisfactory service and of 100 considered satisfactory 5 per cent failed. If the questionable risk hundred had been rejected the Army would have lost 49 average and 30 outstanding soldiers. It seemed, therefore, more profitable for the Army to risk retaining ineffectives than to attempt to weed them out completely on the basis of brief psychiatric interviews.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 121 , Issue 564 , November 1972 , pp. 553 - 557
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1972 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Bloomberg, W., and Hyde, R. W. (1942). ‘A survey of neuropsychiatric work at the Boston Induction Station.’ Amer. J. Psychiatry, 99, 23–8.Google Scholar
2 Leavitt, H. C. (1947). ‘Neuropsychiatric appraisal at an induction station.’ Butt. U.S. Army Med. Rept., 7, 125–43.Google ScholarPubMed
3 Bloomberg, W. (1948). ‘Plan for screening induction and utilization of manpower.’ Amer. J. Psych., 105, 462–5.Google Scholar
4 Egan, J. R., Jackson, L., and Eanes, R. H. (1951). ‘A study of neuropsychiatric rejectees.’ J. Amer, med. Assoc., 145, 466–9.Google Scholar
5 Atta, John A. (1949). ‘Efficacy of the brief clinical interview method in predicting adjustments: five-year follow-up study of 304 army inductees.’ Archives of Neurology and Psychiatry, 61, 170–6.Google Scholar
6 Plag, John A., and Arthur, R. J. (1965). ‘Psychiatric re-examination of unsuitable naval recruits: a two-year follow-up.’ Amer. J. Psychiatry, 122, 534–41.Google Scholar
7 Wittson, C. L., Hunt, W. A., and Stevenson, (1946). ‘A follow-up study of neuropsychiatric screening.’ Journal of Abn. Sac. Psychol., 41, 79–82.Google Scholar
8 Wittson, C. L., and Hunt, W. A. (1945). ‘Three years of naval selection.’ War Medicine, 7, 218–21.Google Scholar
9 Glass, A. J., Ryan, F. J., Luhir, A., Ramana, C. V., and Tucker, A. C. (1956). ‘Psychiatric prediction and military effectiveness. Part II.’ U.S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, 7, 1575–88.Google Scholar
10 Glass, A. J., Ryan, F. J., Luhir, A., Ramana, C. V., and Tucker, A. C. (1956). ‘Psychiatric prediction and military effectiveness. Part I.’ U.S. Armed Forces Medical Journal, 7, 1427–43.Google Scholar
11 Frank, Ira M., and Hoedemaker, F. S. (1970). ‘Civilian psychiatrists and the draft.’ Amer. J. Psychiatry, 127, 497–502.Google Scholar
12, 13 Development of the Armed Forces Qualifications Test and Predecessor Army Screening Tests, 1946–50. PRS Rept. 976. Personnel Research Section, The Adjutant General, Dept. of the Army, Washington, D.C., 7 Nov. 1952.Google Scholar
14 Hunt, W. A., and Stephenson, I. (1946). ‘Psychological testing in military clinical psychology.’ Psychol. Rev., 53, 107–15.Google Scholar
15 Weider, A., Mittelmann, G., Wechsler, D., and Wolff, H. F. (1944). ‘The Cornell Selectee Index.’ J. Amer. med. Assoc., 124, 224–8.Google Scholar
16 Weider, A., Brodman, K., Mittelman, B., Wechsler, D., and Wolff, H. G. (1945). ‘Cornell Selectee Index.’ War Med., 7, 209–13.Google Scholar
17 Brill, N. Q., and Beebe, G. W. (1951). ‘Follow-up study of psychoneurosis.’ Amer. J. Psychiat., 108, 417–25.Google Scholar
18 Magyar, I., Egerway, O., and Kemenczy, I. (1970). ‘Evaluation psychiatrique de la personnalité pathologique (psychopathic) au point de vue du service militaire.’ International Review of the Army, Navy and Air Force Medical Services, 761–73.Google Scholar
19 Lyon, W. B. (1964). ‘Factors associated with psychiatric discharge from the naval service.’ Military Med., 355–63.Google Scholar
20 Fischer, W. E., Ward, Joe H., Holdrege, F. E., and Lawrence, H. G. (1960). ‘Prediction of unsuitability discharges.’ WAD-TN-60-260. Personal Lab. Wright Air Devel. Div. Lackland AFB. Google Scholar
21 Flyer, E. S. ‘Factors relating to discharge for unsuitability during 1956.’ WAD-TN-59-201.Google Scholar
22 Brodman, K., Erdmann, A. J., Lorge, I., Deutschberger, J., and Wolff, H. G. (1954). ‘The Cornell Medical-Index Questionnaire VII, The prediction of psychosomatic and psychiatric disabilities in army training.’ Amer. J. Psychiat., 111, 37–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.