The life change inventory and the MMPI depression subscale in predicting failure in the compulsory conscript service

Abstract

This study was performed to examine how two different inventories can predict failure in the compulsory conscript service. The study was organized in the Turku Coastal Regiment in Finland during 1991–92. All 693 recruits who came to do their military service during 1 year took part in the study. We used a 35-item short form of the Life Change Inventory (La) and a 22-item subscale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory depression scale (MMPI). Each life change event was assigned a numerical value ranging from 11 to 65 Life Change Units (LCU). A large number of LCUs and positive answers in the MMPI were statistically significantly associated with failure in the military service. Furthermore, both inventories included many questions that were significantly associated with exemptions from military service. When the study population was divided into 5 different risk groups, the probability of failure in military service was 45 times higher in the highest risk group than it was in the lowest risk group. Accordingly, it is possible to form different risk groups by using these two inventories, with the failure risk in military service being at most 67%. The possibility of forming different risk groups provides better opportunities to make recommendations and offer increased support and counseling to an individual conscript. It also gives a clearer argument on which to base the decision to exempt a youth from military service in advance.

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