2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

562
Coping Strategies
Lazarus and Folkman (1984) define coping as “constantly changing cognitive and
behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that are appraised as
taxing or exceeding the resources of the person” (p. 141). It is these specific demands that often
produce anxiety about a given situation and build into stress that may either enhance or diminish
performance in the situation, if not dealt with in an effective and timely manner through any of
the various stress coping strategies. For instance, Edwards and Trimble (1992) examined the
relationship between anxiety and performance, as influenced by coping strategy employed in the
situation, and found that task-oriented coping responses (such as problem-focus) were positively
related to performance on a task, while emotion-oriented coping responses (such as avoidance
and distancing) were negatively related to performance on the task. Because coping has been
related to such outcomes, an examination of this factor should be of great interest to the military
as it competes with the civilian workplace in an attempt to attract, recruit, hire, and retain the
most qualified individuals.
The beginning of a Navy career may be, and most likely is, a very stressful time for most
recruits. Many of them are leaving home for the first time to travel far from family and friends to
a new environment in which they know no one and have limited knowledge as to what is about
to happen in their lives. An assessment of the ways in which these recruits handle the stressful
situations they face in the beginning of their Navy careers may shed some light on how likely
these recruits are to make the Navy a life-long career. The methods used in this process, the
coping strategies for handling potentially stressful, anxiety-producing situations, may vary both
across and within individuals and/or groups of individuals, and knowledge of these differences
may provide valuable information regarding the choices that these recruits make concerning their
military careers.
As the demands of recruit training at Recruit Training Command (RTC) introduce novel
situations and tasks for new recruits to face each day, they must either figure out ways to adapt to
and deal with these situations or be faced with the prospect of ending their careers early and
returning to their civilian lives. It is likely that, more often than not, the latter of these choices is
not beneficial for either the Navy or the exiting recruits. Therefore, a priori information about
how recruits cope with the challenges they face may be helpful in designing and implementing
ways to prevent unwanted attrition from training due to situational stress and anxiety.
METHOD
Sample
The sample for the current study was composed of new recruits (N = 47,708) who had
recently joined the Navy and were embarking upon initial recruit training at the Great Lakes
Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL, from the beginning of data collection in April 2002 to
August 2003.
Survey
New Sailor Survey. The first of four questionnaires administered during the course of the
first term of enlistment is the New Sailor Survey, which is composed of questions designed to
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003