Change in Marine Recruits' Attitudes Related to Recruit Characteristics and Drill Instructors' Attitudes

Abstract

Mariαe recruits' attitudes toward the toughness of Marines, spirit among Marines, affiliation with the Marine Corps, and authority in the Marine Corps were assessed on four occasions during basic training. All 4 of these attitudes became more favorable, with the most significant changes having occurred during the first 3 wk. of training. Recruit-characteristic variables such as age, education, and aptitude were not related to individual differences in attitude changes but were related to the initial attitudes of recruits. Further, the pattern of these correlations varied significantly across the attitudes. Discrepancies and similarities between these results and those of a similar study conducted 2 yr. before were noted and discussed. In addition, this study showed recruits' attitudes toward spirit and affiliation, as hypothesized, changed in a direction of greater similarity with drill instructors' attitudes. Recruits' attitudes toward toughness and authority did not change in the predicted direction but became more favorable than drill instructors' attitudes during basic training.