Stressors in Defence Academy

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine the differences in the stressors of the defence trainees among the three wings of defence (Army, Air force and Navy). An inventory of stressors was constructed to be used in the study. Inventory was constructed through three stages. In the first stage, interviews were conducted with three generals and a panel of 7 members to collect information on stressors during defence training to formulate questionnaire for the conduction of Focussed Group Discussions (FGDs). During the second stage, 8 FGDs were conducted, where in each FGD consisted of 8 trainees; total sample was randomly selected, 64 male trainees aged between 17.6 years to 18.6 years. In addition to this, 27 instructors of the academy were interviewed to collect relevant information to formulate inventory of stressors during defence training period. In the third stage, 34 items inventory of stressors was constructed. These 34 items were classified into 3 categories, (1) Physical training and its impact (2) Process and systems of training (3) Social and Psychological stressors. This inventory was standardized on randomly selected N = 100 male trainees (male aged between 17.6 years to 18.6 years) belong to three wings of defence. Cohen’s perceived stress scale was administered to find content validity and content validity was found at 0.705 and Chronbach reliability was found at 0.957 and split half reliability was found at 0.937.