Health and Well‐Being in Highly Cohesive Units of the U.S. Army1

Abstract

A large civilian literature on the role of social support in health and well‐being suggests that military units high in unit cohesion should provide their members both significant protection from physical and mental illness and high levels of job satisfaction. This hypothesis was tested with a questionnaire survey of soldiers in Special Forces “A‐teams”, generally viewed as the U.S. Army's most cohesive permanent units. As predicted, A‐team soldiers reported greater physical and psychological well‐being and greater satisfaction with job and career than did soldiers in conventionally organized units, be they Special Forces, airborne, or mechanized infantry. The best predictors in our battery of demographic, personality, and cohesion measures were ratings of social support from and satisfaction with one's Army unit, and relatively more “internal” scores on the Rotter locus‐of‐control scale. From these data and extensive participant observation we conclude that unit cohesion provides the soldier considerable protection from the stresses of military life, even in peace, and that it is organizational rather than individual variables that are primarily responsible for the very high levels of cohesion and/or social support in Special Forces A‐teams.