Influence of social aspects of adaptation during studies on educational success of the Military Academy cadets

Abstract

Adaptation is creating opportunities for adjusting the needs of a person and his/her behavior to the possibilities and requirements of the environment. It is most usually achieved by adapting to specific conditions through changing the patterns and structure of behavior in accordance with the requirements of the environment or the wider community. Adaptation of soldiers and cadets to all specific features of military milieu (ways of living, work organization, series of restrictions, etc.) certainly is a specific process, especially as compared to other work environments. Therefore, the aim of the research was to determine the extent to which different social aspects of adaptation during studying in the Military Academy affect the cadets' educational success. The research was conducted with cadets of both sexes at the first and second school years in the Military Academy. The survey used a Questionnaire on the level of adaptation of the Military Academy cadets to the conditions of training, designed to meet the needs of this research. The significance of differences between groups of examinees was determined using chi-square test. The results show that, for the cadets of this sample, various social aspects, expressed in a series of activities and relations in the Military Academy, facilitate, to a greater or smaller extent, the adaptation and help them achieve higher educational results. However, no case showed significant correlation of these characteristics with the educational success as expressed by average grade. The obtained results have broader implications too, because they point to the adaptation of a person to the work environment, which is in many respects similar to the military environment (work schedules, the hierarchy of relations, method and organization of work, interpersonal relations, etc.) and may affect the work efficiency of employees.