Personal and Organizational Determinants of Enlisted Attrition

This study was conducted to determine the relative influence of various individual and organizational factors on first-term enlisted attrition. A longitudinal design was employed whereby a cohort of first-term recruits (both 'A' school and apprentice school personnel ) was tracked over a 12-month period. Results indicated that: (1) first-year attrition was significantly higher for experimental group personnel(who were eligible for voluntary separation) than for control group personnel, (2) attrition rates were higher for apprentice personnel than 'A' school personnel, (3) separation decisions were related to preservice demographic characteristics, family and home problems, attitudes toward the Navy formed during recruit training, and in-service discrepancies between expectations and experiences, and (4) the work environment explained more variance in later separations and individual characteristics, more variance in early separations(i.e., within the first 6 months).