I__. - International Military Testing Association

Factor 1,
For purposes of this paper, one representative item was
selected from each scale for purposes of highlighting some of the
principal results that emerged from our initial analyses of these
data. From the first factor, the item selected reads as follows:
How many times in the past six months have you had insufficient
upper body strength to complete a task assignment in your MOS?
The response options for question 1, and the proportion of
respondents choosing each option, are shown below:
Prooortion
Ontion Male Female Total
1. 10 or more 7 8 7
2. 5 to 9 3 5 3
3. 2 to 4 8 17 9
4. 1 6 6 6
5. None 76 64 75
Before further analyses were conducted, response options
were grouped into two categories based on the degree of
difficulty experienced by the respondent in performing tasks:
high difficulty (options 1 and 2) and low difficulty (responses
3, 4 and 5). Thus, 10% of the total group and of the males, and
13% of the females, fell in the high difficulty group.
The next analysis examined whether this type of difficulty
was related to ability to lift as measured by the MEPSCAT score
obtained at the time of enlistment. Individuals were sorted irrto
two groups based on their MEPSCAT score: one group consisting of
those who were able to lift 110 pounds, and a second group
consisting of those who were not. The difference between the
groups was rather small: 9.7% of those with high MEPSCAT scores
reported high difficulty; 11.5% of those with low MEPSCAT scores
reported such difficulty.
Next, results were compared across MOS. Substantial
differences were found, with motor transport operators having the
largest percentage (16) in the high difficulty group and radio
repairers having the lowest percentage (3).
The next set of analyses examined characteristics which
might at least in part account for MOS differences. It was fo.und
that 11% of the soldiers in MOS with very heavy physical strength
requirements, compared with 7% in the other MOS, fell in the high
difficulty category. In combat MOS, 12% experienced a high
degree of difficulty: in non-combat MOS, 8%.
Some of the results followed no particular pattern,
suggesting the need for further investigation. The greatest
disparity between the sexes was found among light wheel vehicle
mechanics, where 26% of the females, but only 9% of the males,
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