Armed Forces Qualification Test Scores Research Articles

The validity of general cognitive ability predicting job-specific performance is stable across different levels of job experience.

Decades of research in industrial-organizational psychology have established that measures of general cognitive ability (g) consistently and positively predict job-specific performance to a statistically and practically significant degree across jobs. But is the validity of g stable across different levels of job experience? The present study addresses this question using historical large-scale data across 31 diverse military occupations from the Joint-Service Job Performance Measurement/Enlistment Standards Project (N = 10,088). Across all jobs, results of our meta-analysis find near-zero interactions between Armed Forces Qualification Test score (a composite of math and verbal scores) and time in service when predicting job-specific performance. This finding supports the validity of g for predicting job-specific performance even with increasing job experience and provides no evidence for diminishing validity of g. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, along with directions for personnel selection research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Exposomic Signatures of Cervical Pain.

We evaluated risk factors associated with cervical pain (CP) among officers and enlisted members of the U.S. Army and Marine Aviation community using an exposomic approach. Specifically, we aimed to determine the factors associated with reported CP. This is a retrospective cohort study that utilized the Medical Assessment and Readiness System housed at Womack Army Medical Center to evaluate the longitudinal data taken from medical and workforce resources. This study included 77,864 active duty AMAC members during October 2015-December 2019. Multivariable mixed-effects logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between the independent variables of rank, service time, deployment, Armed Forces Qualification Test score, tobacco use, alcohol use, age, gender, race, ethnicity, body mass index, marital status, and education level and the dependent variable, incidence occurrence of CP. The total analysis included 77,864 individuals with 218,180 person-years of observations. The incidence rate of CP was 18.8 per 100 person-years, with a 12% period prevalence. Cervical pain was independently associated with rank, service time, Armed Forces Qualification Test score, and alcohol use (all P < .05). Our longitudinal exposomic signatures-based approach aims to complement the outcomes of data science and analytics from Medical Assessment and Readiness System with validations of objective biochemical indicator species observed in Army and Marine Aviation community members suffering from CP. This initial approach using parallel track complementarity has the potential of substantiating the underlying mechanisms foundational to design prospective personalized algorithms that can be used as a predictive model. Finally, a specific evaluation of occupational risk factors may provide insight into factors not readily ascertained from the civilian literature.

C-27Using Armed Forces Qualification Test Scores for a Baseline of Cognitive Functioning After Loss of Consciousness

C-27Using Armed Forces Qualification Test Scores for a Baseline of Cognitive Functioning After Loss of Consciousness

Rates of Knee Injury in the U.S. Active Duty Army, 2000–2005

We sought to summarize knee injuries (KI) in the U.S. Active Duty Army (ADA) in terms of absolute numbers, examine current rate trends, and identify ADA who were at increased risk for experiencing a KI. We used the Total Army Injury and Health Outcomes Database (TAIHOD) to compute unadjusted and adjusted rates of KI, categorized by the Barell Matrix, within the ADA for the years 2000-2005. During this period, 21 to 25 per 1,000 ADA suffered from KI. The highest yearly rates were observed for knee dislocation and sprains/strains (31 per 1,000 ADA). In ADA with a history of a KI (within 2 years), rates increased nearly tenfold. Elevated KI rates were also seen in ADA with prior upper or lower leg injuries, those > 30 years of age, and those with a category IV Armed Forces Qualification Test score (lowest admissible in Army). ADA KI rates remained fairly stable throughout the study period. Relative to other ADA Soldiers, those with prior knee, upper leg, or lower leg injuries are at increased risk for subsequent KI.

THE EFFECTS OF SINGLE MOTHERS' WELFARE USE AND EMPLOYMENT DECISIONS ON CHILDREN'S COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

We examine the effects of single mothers' welfare use and employment decisions on children's short-run cognitive development, as measured by their preschool standardized math test scores. We control for three mechanisms through which these decisions might affect children's outcomes: direct monetary benefits, parental time invested in the child, and nonpecuniary benefits from in-kind transfer programs such as Medicaid. We employ a correction function approach and control for state-fixed effects to address the endogenous nature of welfare participation and employment decisions. Our estimates suggest that although each additional quarter of either mother's employment or welfare use results in only a small increase in a child's standardized math test score, the total effects after several quarters are sizable. We allow mothers' decisions to have varying effects on attainment by children's observed innate ability and by the intensity of welfare use and employment. A child who has the mean level of observed innate ability with a mother who simultaneously worked and used welfare in all 20 quarters after childbirth experiences an 8.25 standardized-point increase in standardized scores. The positive impact is more pronounced for the more disadvantaged children, who tend to be born to mothers with low Armed Forces Qualification Test scores, or have lower birth weights. We also examine the effects using timing of employment and welfare use, as well as children's maturity and gender. (JEL I3, J13, J22)

BDNF polymorphism predicts general intelligence after penetrating traumatic brain injury.

Neuronal plasticity is a fundamental factor in cognitive outcome following traumatic brain injury. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a member of the neurotrophin family, plays an important role in this process. While there are many ways to measure cognitive outcome, general cognitive intelligence is a strong predictor of everyday decision-making, occupational attainment, social mobility and job performance. Thus it is an excellent measure of cognitive outcome following traumatic brain injury (TBI). Although the importance of the single-nucleotide polymorphisms polymorphism on cognitive function has been previously addressed, its role in recovery of general intelligence following TBI is unknown. We genotyped male Caucasian Vietnam combat veterans with focal penetrating TBI (pTBI) (n = 109) and non-head injured controls (n = 38) for 7 BDNF single-nucleotide polymorphisms. Subjects were administrated the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) at three different time periods: pre-injury on induction into the military, Phase II (10–15 years post-injury, and Phase III (30–35 years post-injury). Two single-nucleotide polymorphisms, rs7124442 and rs1519480, were significantly associated with post-injury recovery of general cognitive intelligence with the most pronounced effect at the Phase II time point, indicating lesion-induced plasticity. The genotypes accounted for 5% of the variance of the AFQT scores, independently of other significant predictors such as pre-injury intelligence and percentage of brain volume loss. These data indicate that genetic variations in BDNF play a significant role in lesion-induced recovery following pTBI. Identifying the underlying mechanism of this brain-derived neurotrophic factor effect could provide insight into an important aspect of post-traumatic cognitive recovery.

Does Employer Learning Vary by Occupation?

Models in which employers learn about the productivity of young workers, such as Altonji and Pierret (2001), have two principal implications: First, the distribution of wages becomes more dispersed as a cohort of workers gains experience; second, the coefficient on a variable that employers initially do not observe, such as the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) score, grows with experience. If employers' learning varies significantly across occupations, both of these indicators of learning should covary positively across groups defined by a worker's occupational assignment at labor market entry. This paper tests this implication of the employer learning model using data from the NLSY and CPS. I find that occupations with high growth in the variance of residual wages over the first ten years of the worker's career are also the occupations with high growth in the AFQT coefficient, confirming the learning perspective. Interestingly, occupations that my analysis characterizes as having a low level of employer learning are not occupations where employers know little about the worker after ten years of experience; instead they appear to be occupations where employers have already learned about the worker's AFQT score at the time of hire. I provide several pieces of evidence that occupational assignment affects the learning process independently from education and that the results are not driven by workers' occupational mobility.

Pretrauma Cognitive Ability and Risk for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Cognitive deficits are associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but whether such deficits reflect sequelae or risk factors is not fully resolved. To determine, in a representative sample, whether preexposure cognitive ability is associated with risk for PTSD, and whether that risk is genetically mediated. The co-twin-control study involved 2386 male Vietnam-era twin veterans with a mean (SD) age of 41.9 (2.7) years, a population-based sample of men who were in military service during this era. Cognitive ability scores were obtained just before military induction at a mean (SD) age of 19.7 (1.5) years. Participants included only individuals who were exposed to potentially traumatic events and underwent preexposure cognitive testing. Armed Forces Qualification Test (of cognitive ability) percentile scores and PTSD diagnosed by means of structured interviews. We found a significant dose-response relationship between preexposure cognitive ability and risk for PTSD. After controlling for confounders, the highest cognitive ability quartile had a 48% lower risk than the lowest ability quartile (P<.001). Non-PTSD-concordant pairs had the highest scores; PTSD-concordant pairs had the lowest scores; and PTSD-discordant pairs had intermediate scores. Differences in Armed Forces Qualification Test scores within twin pairs were significant only in PTSD-discordant pairs (P=.04) and were accounted for specifically by the discordant dizygotic pairs (P=.002). Genetic influences on preexposure cognitive ability explained 5% of the variation in PTSD, but 100% of that relationship was explained by common genes. Preexposure cognitive ability is a risk or a protective factor for PTSD. The variance in PTSD explained by preexposure cognitive ability is accounted for entirely by common genetic factors. Lower cognitive ability may be a marker of less adaptive coping against adverse mental health consequences of exposure to potentially traumatic events. Further study of the potential mechanisms through which cognitive ability confers risk is needed.

Brother–sister differences in the g factor in intelligence: Analysis of full, opposite-sex siblings from the NLSY1979

There is scientific and popular dispute about whether there are sex differences in cognitive abilities and whether they are relevant to the proportions of men and women who attain high-level achievements, such as Nobel Prizes. A recent meta-analysis (Lynn, R., and Irwing, P. (2004). Sex differences on the progressive matrices: a meta-analysis. Intelligence, 32, 481–498.), which suggested that males have higher mean scores on the general factor in intelligence ( g), proved especially contentious. Here we use a novel design, comparing 1292 pairs of opposite-sex siblings who participated in the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY1979). The mental test applied was the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), from which the briefer Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores can also be derived. Males have only a marginal advantage in mean levels of g (less than 7% of a standard deviation) from the ASVAB and AFQT, but substantially greater variance. Among the top 2% AFQT scores, there were almost twice as many males as females. These differences could provide a partial basis for sex differences in intellectual eminence.

A Discordant Twin Study of Premorbid Cognitive Ability in Schizophrenia

Twin studies are advantageous because sources of genetic and environmental variation are equated in ways that are not possible in standard case-control designs. We examined premorbid cognitive ability by comparing Armed Forces Qualification Test scores administered at the time of military enlistment in 21 schizophrenia-discordant twin pairs and 860 matched control twins. Scores were significantly lower in schizophrenia probands than in their nonpsychotic co-twins; co-twins were midway between probands and control twins. Effects were reduced when the discordant pairs were extended to include 33 psychosis-discordant pairs. Compared with controls, education at enlistment was significantly lower in psychosis probands and in co-twins from both schizophrenia- and psychosis-disordant pairs. Co-twins from psychosis-discordant pairs had significantly lower education at midlife than controls. Results suggest that cognitive ability is influenced by familial vulnerability for schizophrenia or psychosis, and that premorbid cognitive ability is lower in schizophrenia versus psychosis in general. Educational advancement may be slightly slowed by this familial vulnerability, but results were equivocal with regard to attenuation of one’s ultimate educational attainment.

Does mother's IQ explain the association between birth weight and cognitive ability in childhood?

There is a significant association between birth weight and cognitive test scores in childhood, even among individuals born at term and with normal birth weight. The association is not explained by the child's social background. Here we examine whether mother's cognitive ability accounts for the birth weight–cognitive ability association. We analysed mother and child data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Random effects models were employed to utilise fully the repeated cognitive tests on the same child, and to include all children of each mother. Mother's score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) was significantly related to child's birth weight. Birth weight was significantly related to the child's scores on the Peabody Individual Achievement Test. This association was attenuated by up to two-thirds after taking into account mother's AFQT score. In this large sample the association between birth weight and cognitive ability was substantially explained by mother's IQ.

Neurobehavioral deficits associated with chronic fatigue syndrome in veterans with Gulf War unexplained illnesses

Gulf War unexplained illnesses (GWUI) are a heterogeneous collection of symptoms of unknown origin known to be more common among veterans of the Gulf War than among nonveterans. In the present study we focused on one of these unexplained illnesses. We tested the hypothesis that in a sample of Persian Gulf War veterans chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was associated with cognitive deficits on computerized cognitive testing after controlling for the effects of premorbid cognitive differences. We obtained Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) data acquired around the date of induction into the military on 94 veterans of the Gulf War, 32 with CFS and 62 healthy controls. Controls performed better than participants diagnosed with CFS on the AFQT. Cognitive deficits were associated with CFS on 3 of 8 variables after the effect of premorbid AFQT scores was removed with ANCOVA.

Household Characteristics, Ability and Education: Evidence from a Dynamic Expected Utility Model

We estimate a Dynamic Programming model of the decision between continuing schooling or entering the labor market using a panel from the National Longitudinal Survey (NLSY). The model, set in an expected utility framework (with a power utility function), fits data on both schooling attainments and wage very well. We find a degree of relative risk aversion much smaller than usually found in the finance literature (around 0.6) and a subjective annual discount rate between 4% and 5%. Various simulations indicate that schooling attainments are elastic with respect to the return to college education and, to a lesser extent, with respect to measured ability (Armed Forces Qualification Test scores) but inelastic with respect to household characteristics (especially household income). The true intergenerational correlation between schooling attainments and parents' education (after conditioning on observed and unobserved ability) is found to be quite low. Finally, our estimates of the return to schooling indicate strong returns to high school graduation and a clear evidence of a positive correlation between the utility of attending school and unobserved labor market ability (ability bias). Estimates of the return to schooling which take into account the ability bias are found to be between 25% and 30% smaller than those obtained ignoring it.

Testing word knowledge by telephone to estimate general cognitive aptitude using an adaptive test

A computerized adaptive test of word knowledge was administered over the telephone by reading items and response alternatives to 144 individuals who had recently enlisted in the U.S. Army and had completed the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). The ASVAB was developed to assess the trainability of potential recruits and ASVAB data are used to compute Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) scores. Subject responses were entered into a computer by a telephone interviewer, thereby allowing the computerized adaptive test program to accurately estimate individual differences by presenting approximately 10 verbal items. The Telephone Test and the AFQT scores correlated .66 in this sample, and a population correlation of .81 was estimated based on the bivariate correction for range restriction. A confirmatory factor analysis supported a four factor solution with the Telephone Test loading at a very high level (.91) on a Verbal factor, which had a substantial loading (.72) on Psychometric g. The correlations, factor loadings and administration time (5 to 10 minutes) indicate that the procedure provides an excellent measure of crystallized verbal aptitude that could be incorporated into telephone interviews and used to estimate general cognitive aptitude.

High school youths' dropout and re-enrollment behavior

Numerous studies have investigated the behavior of high school dropouts from economic, sociological, and educational points of view. However, data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth indicate that being a dropout is not necessarily a permanent condition. This paper attempts to empirically study through the application of logit models the dropout behavior of youths, as well as the decision of dropouts whether to return to school. Most results from the logistic regression for dropping out of school are consistent with the common finding in the literature. One exception is that the characteristic of being black is found to be less likely associated with dropping out. Results from the logistic regression for returning to school parallel the findings in the data analysis. Both results indicate that a dropout's AFQT (Armed Forces Qualification Test) score, age, and out-of-school duration are significant factors in determining the probability of returning to school. However, dropouts' activities during their out-of-school period have little influence on their decision to return to school.

Ability Test Equity in Predicting Job Performance Work Samples

There has been a lack of work sample job performance criteria to support the usage of ability tests for personnel selection. Work samples of performance were collected for three air force jobs. Differences in slopes and intercepts on the basis of race and sex were tested for the regressions of work sample scores on Armed Forces Qualification Test scores. This ability test was found to be fair to Blacks, Whites, males, and females for all three jobs using Cleary's definition of test bias.

An empirical study of re-enrolement behaviour for male high-school dropouts

To understand further the behaviour of high-school dropouts during their periods away from school, this paper studied empirically the decisions of male dropouts on whether to return to school. We applied the bivariate probit, multinomial logit, and waiting-time models to analyse this issue. The estimation results from all three models indicate that the armed forces qualification test score, age, experience of using drugs, local labour-market situation and the duration of the period out of school had significant effects on a male dropout's return decision. Family background variables, contrary to what we expected, had little effect on this decision.

Early Onset of Adolescent Sexual Behavior and Drug Involvement

Event history evaluation was used to look into the dynamic relationship between sexual activity prior to age 16 and drug use. Data come from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) a survey of over 12000 women and men aged 14-21 when interviewed in 1979. This sample is taken from the 2 youngest birth cohorts of the NLDY those born in 1963 and 1964 aged 14-15 in 1979. This extends and complements the analysis done by Haurin and Mott (1987 1986b). The effect of cigarette use and illicit drugs other than marijuana and alcohol use is analyzed and a drug use classification is used that takes the cumulative nature of drug involvement into account. Additional predictors--age at menarche academic ability participation in activities and characteristics of the school context--are also used. The basic hypothesis is that when other factors are controlled involvement in street drug use is a unique risk factor for early sexual activity. Independent variables include sociodemographic factors; family structure; individual personality characteristics and attributes; commitment to conventional beliefs institutions and activities; drug use; school context at ages 14-15; and duration variables. In the 1984 survey at age 19 or 20 85.4% of the males and 75.5% of the females reported to having had sexual intercourse. Males start more than 1 and 1.2 years before females at median ages of 15.9 versus 17.1. Ethnic differences are greater among males--the median age at 1st sex is 14.1 for Black males 15.9 for Hispanic males and 16.2 for White males. Among females the median ages at 1st sex are 16.5 for Blacks 18.0 for Hispanics and 17.2 for Whites. Highly related to the timing of 1st sex are: low parental education low Armed Forces Qualification Test score; nonintact family structure and delinquent participation. Urban males seem to be younger at 1st sex than rural ones; there are only slight differences among females. Self-esteem and locus of control seem to be inversely related to early sexual experimentation. Drug involvement is strongly related to early sexual experimentation. Teenagers who start having sex at the youngest ages are more likely than others to have ever used marijuana and other street drugs to report heavier lifelong involvement with drugs and to be current drug users at the time of the survey in 1984. The differences are less striking for cigarettes and alcohol. 2 event history models were estimated to predict the probability of stating sex by age 16 separately for females and males. (authors modified)

Is the Army College Fund Meeting its Objectives?

The Army College Fund is a program started in 1981 that offers post-service educational benefits to eligible recruits. It was hoped that the program would increase the quality of Army recruits by attracting more of the college-oriented. Using data from three Army sources, the author examines enrollment and financial participation in the program from 1981 to 1985. He finds that enrollment grew rapidly during that time and that the quality of Army recruits, as measured by Armed Forces Qualification Test scores, also dramatically increased. The program may turn out to be more expensive than anticipated, however, because the number of participating soldiers—those making the co-payments necessary to receive benefits later—has exceeded expectations.

The Cost Of High-Quality Recruits

Qn the AVF period, military manpower planners and political leaders have been concerned with the "quality" of Army soldiers, as measured by Armed Forces Qualification Test scores and educational achievement. Statistical research has shown that high school graduates with above-average AFQT scores are "better" soldiers, but analytical methods employed have not allowed decision makers to gauge how much more the nati thould these better troops. Econometric estimation of the 'recruit survival function"'llows for a conceptually simple quantitative measos useful to force planners. The econometric results show that the cost of manning the Army with highquality recruits is considerably lower than simple consideration of the enlistment bonuses and pay levels required to attract them would indicate.