New Evidence on Retaining Air Force Members with Young Children: Exploring Work and Personal Factors by Gender

Abstract

The United States faces ongoing challenges retaining military men and women. Previous research highlights that family factors influence members’ decisions to leave the service. The Conceptual Model of Military Career and Life Course Events and Well-Being suggests that having a baby is a key family life event and may affect military men’s and women’s career intentions differently. Despite this, research on factors influencing new military mothers’ and fathers’ career intentions is scant. Addressing that gap, this study used 2011 Air Force survey data to examine demographic, work, and personal factors associated with career intentions of married and unmarried Air Force men and women who had a baby in the last year (analytic sample =3,679). Results revealed new insights, including: new military mothers experience twice as many unmet childcare needs as new military fathers, marriage to an active duty spouse is associated with lesser retention intentions among female officers, and workgroup cohesion is uniquely, strongly associated with career intentions of enlisted unmarried fathers. Overall, findings suggest that policies aimed at supporting dual military couples, and increasing service-members’ and their spouses’ military life satisfaction could improve military readiness and retention.