The Psychomotor Performance of Men and Women Wearing Two Types of Body Armor

Abstract

Abstract : This study was conducted to determine the effects of load-carrying equipment (LCE) and two types of fragmentation protective armor vests, Standard B Fragmentation Protective Body Armor (STD B) and the Personnel Armor System for Ground Troops (PASGT), on body flexibility, rate of movement, psychomotor coordination, manual dexterity, and effort exerted for task performance. Twelve men and 12 women, outfitted in utilities, performed the battery of 16 tasks under each of the following clothing conditions: utilities alone, STD B armor, PASGT armor, LCE, STD B armor + LCE, and PASGT armor + LCE. In general, performance levels were highest when the utilities were worn without any additional items and lowest when the STD B vest was worn in conjunction with the LCE. The STD B armor impaired certain aspects of psychomotor performance, particularly body flexibility, to a greater extent than the PASGT vest did. The collar and shoulder designs seemed to be the critical features responsible for the superior performance achieved with the PASGT vest. After the data had been transformed to remove effects accounted for by difference is the basic capabilities of men and women, two tasks which required arm movements were found to be significantly affected by the sex variable. The women's performance of these movements was impaired relative to the men's because of the excessive length of the armor across the women's shoulders.