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

Abstract

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.