Measurement of Group Cohesion in U. S. Army Units

The degree of social alienation among soldiers and the deterioration of unit identity in U.S. Army units were strongly evident and alarmingly widespread toward the end of the Vietnam War and during the transitional period afterward. The outcome of the Vietnam War underscored, in part, the integral relationship between small-group relations and the combat soldier's motivation. Psychology, however, has given slight recognition to the social characteristics of small groups in military units and to the sustaining function of these characteristics for combat soldiers. The purpose of this study was to clarify the operational and conceptual definitions of military unit cohesion by developing measures of small-unit cohesion. Soldiers (N = 8,869) in 93 companies provided ratings to questionnaire items that underwent factor and reliability analyses. Results showed that small-unit cohesion in U.S. Army units can be represented by four general dimensions: (a) the quality of instrumental and affective relationships am...

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