Selected political, personality, and socio-economic characteristics of Virginia Tech Army ROTC cadets

The basic objectives of this thesis were to examine selected political, personality, and socio-economic characteristics of Virginia Tech Army ROTC cadets in an attempt to acquire a better understanding of "who" will be filling the future officer ranks of the U.S. Army. Although this study focuses on a specific population, it provides a substantial data base and starting point for an in depth inquiry into the social-psychological dimensions of Army ROTC cadets in general. Specifically, the study examined selected socio-economic and service related factors in relation to the officer career intentions of the cadets. Major differences were noted between the potential careerist and non-careerist groups with respect to the following variables: academic class status, size of city, class of neighborhood, family income, father's occupation, college major, expected level of education, cadet rank, ROTC scholarship, prestige in the military, military service of father, and selection of Army branch. Significant differences were also found between the cadets and a sample of male civilian students in the areas of political orientation, party identification, attitudes toward an All-Volunteer Army and U.S. military involvement overseas, and scores achieved on the personal competence and strongmindedness scales. This thesis also examined the perceived levels of importance the cadets place on selected intrinsic and extrinsic needs using Maslow's need taxonomy as a guide. The results showed that the rank ordering of the needs from most to least important was as follows: ego/self-esteem, ego/reputation, self-fulfillment, social, and safety/security.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1972

Author dc:creator

• Manning, Robert Francis

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/113466

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/113466