Resilience Among Naval Recruits: A Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Interventions at Recruit Training Command and Implications on Fleet Readiness

Abstract : This study is designed to quantitatively and qualitatively measure recruit resilience at Naval Recruit Training Command (RTC) and to develop interventions that will increase recruit resilience. This study administered three resilience-building interventions to 713 recruits across eight divisions and collected surveys at four time intervals to measure changes in self-reported resilience. We conducted interviews with recruits and Recruit Division Commanders (RDCs) to gather qualitative data on significant factors that affect the resilience-building process. Our quantitative analysis methods included difference mean tests, regression analysis, and correlation analysis to determine the most effective interventions. Qualitative analysis methods are used to provide insight on recruit behavior, mental state, and internal resilience. Our quantitative results suggest that Appreciative Guided Conversations using positive, meaningful experience-based questions yield significant increases in recruit resilience. Our qualitative analysis revealed numerous enablers, disablers, and facilitators (RDCs) that impact the recruit resilience process. The influence of family and religion cannot be overstated as sources that have a positive effect in a recruits resilience process. We recommend that RTC implement a long-term resilience intervention program of Appreciative Guided Conversations for all recruits. By improving recruit resilience, RTC can graduate stronger, healthier recruits who will positively contribute to fleet readiness.

[1]  Fred Luthans,et al.  Optimism , and Resilience Positive Organizational Behavior in the Workplace : The Impact of Hope , 2007 .

[2]  Scott N. Taylor,et al.  Leading with Values: Values and leadership in organizational crisis , 2006 .

[3]  Brooke C. Feeney,et al.  A New Look at Social Support , 2014, Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

[4]  G. Mythen,et al.  A Sociological Analysis of Military Resilience , 2015 .

[5]  Michael R. Frone,et al.  Job stressors, job involvement and employee health: A test of identity theory , 1995 .

[6]  B. Fredrickson.  The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. , 2001, The American psychologist.

[7]  Yongju Yu,et al.  The effects of anxiety and depression on stress-related growth among Chinese army recruits: Resilience and coping as mediators , 2016, Journal of health psychology.

[8]  S. Luthar,et al.  The construct of resilience: Implications for interventions and social policies , 2000, Development and Psychopathology.

[9]  B. Fredrickson,et al.  Positive Emotions Trigger Upward Spirals Toward Emotional Well-Being , 2002, Psychological science.

[10]  Timothy J. Vogus,et al.  Organizing For Resilience , 2003 .

[11]  Joyce E. Bono,et al.  Building Positive Resources: Effects of Positive Events and Positive Reflection on Work Stress and Health , 2013 .

[12]  B. Fredrickson,et al.  Resilient individuals use positive emotions to bounce back from negative emotional experiences. , 2004, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[13]  Fred Luthans,et al.  Emerging Positive Organizational Behavior , 2007 .

[14]  F. Lambrechts,et al.  Building Psychological Capital With Appreciative Inquiry , 2015 .

[15]  H. Ibarra.  Provisional Selves: Experimenting with Image and Identity in Professional Adaptation , 1999 .

[16]  R. J. Fazio,et al.  GROWTH THROUGH LOSS: PROMOTING HEALING AND GROWTH IN THE FACE OF TRAUMA, CRISIS, AND LOSS , 2005 .

[17]  M. Gerson,et al.  PATH: a program to build resilience and thriving in undergraduates , 2013 .

[18]  Murray B Stein,et al.  Psychometric analysis and refinement of the Connor-davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC): Validation of a 10-item measure of resilience. , 2007, Journal of traumatic stress.

[19]  George M. Realmuto,et al.  Shattered Assumptions: Towards a New Psychology of Trauma , 1994 .

[20]  Daniel P. Aldrich,et al.  Social Capital and Community Resilience , 2015 .

[21]  S. Ashford,et al.  Proactivity during organizational entry: The role of desire for control. , 1996 .

[22]  R. Larsen,et al.  The Satisfaction with Life Scale , 1985, Journal of personality assessment.

[23]  S. Seashore,et al.  Group Cohesiveness in the Industrial Work Group. , 1955 .

[24]  Kathleen M. Sutcliffe,et al.  Learning Through Rare Events: Significant Interruptions at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[25]  F. Luthans,et al.  Developing the Psychological Capital of Resiliency , 2006 .

[26]  Michael Ahearne,et al.  Moderating Effects of Goal Acceptance on the Relationship between Group Cohesiveness and Productivity , 1997 .

[27]  W. L. Cron,et al.  The role of goal orientation following performance feedback. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[28]  J. Talbott,et al.  Battlemind Debriefing and Battlemind Training as Early Interventions With Soldiers Returning From Iraq: Randomization by Platoon , 2011 .

[29]  A. Masten.  Resilience in individual development: Successful adaptation despite risk and adversity: Challenges and prospects , 1994 .

[30]  Paul T. Bartone,et al.  Resilience Under Military Operational Stress: Can Leaders Influence Hardiness? , 2006 .

[31]  Glen E. Kreiner,et al.  Growing pains and gains: Framing identity dynamics as opportunities for identity growth , 2009 .

[32]  Nicole Radziwill,et al.  Building Resilience: Social Capital in Post-Disaster Recovery , 2013 .

[33]  Stephen E. Humphrey,et al.  The Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ): developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work. , 2006, The Journal of applied psychology.

[34]  Glenda Wrenn,et al.  Promoting Psychological Resilience in the U.S. Military. , 2011, Rand health quarterly.

[35]  J. Colquitt.  On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[36]  J. J. Cutuli,et al.  Resilience in Development , 2009 .

[37]  P. Adler,et al.  Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept , 2002 .

[38]  G. Mythen,et al.  Searching for Resilience , 2014 .

[39]  D. Beal,et al.  Cohesion and performance in groups: a meta-analytic clarification of construct relations. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[40]  Christopher S Burt,et al.  An inquiry into the resilience of U.S. Navy recruits , 2015 .

[41]  Connie R. Wanberg,et al.  Predictors and outcomes of proactivity in the socialization process. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[42]  G. Saucier.  Mini-markers: a brief version of Goldberg's unipolar big-five markers. , 1994, Journal of personality assessment.

[43]  M. V. Eeten,et al.  THE RESILIENT ORGANIZATION A critical appraisal , 2015 .

[44]  G. Caprara,et al.  The ego resiliency scale revised: A crosscultural study in Italy, Spain, and the United States , 2012 .

[45]  Bradley L. Kirkman,et al.  Beyond Self-Management: Antecedents and Consequences of Team Empowerment , 1999 .

[46]  A. Edmondson.  Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams , 1999 .