Affect Levels in Another Platoon of Basic Trainees

Abstract

In replicating an earlier field study (Datel, et al., 1966), the weekly form of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (W-MAACL) was administered 9 times to a platoon of recruits ( N = 43) from beginning to end of the basic combat training (BCT) cycle. In comparing mean Dysphoria scale data from both studies, it was noted that upon entering the Reception Station both groups of Ss demonstrated nearly equivalent stress levels, both Dysphoria curves plotted over BCT time were roughly parabolic in shape, and both peaked at the same point in the training process. Analyses of variance revealed that scale scores again varied significantly with testing occasions and that affects interacted with occasions. It was suggested that Hostility may replace Anxiety over time, during BCT stress. Stress scores appeared higher in general than those in the first study and failed to return to baseline levels at the close of the cycle. Scale reliabilities were similar to previous findings. The more it changes, the more it's the same thing. Alphonse Karr, Les Guepes: Les Femmes