| United States Army Special Forces needs highly qualified personnel to perform its designated roles and missions. To meet this requirement, Special Forces candidates attend a rigorous Special Forces Assessment and Selection course (SFAS), which is followed by a demanding, expensive, and lengthy Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC). Even with SFAS, the attrition rate in SFQC remains higher than desirable, which has contributed to significant manpower, training, and budgetary problems. The MMPI is currently used as a clinical screening instrument for all SFAS candidates, but there is no empirically based protocol for using the MMPI as a personnel assessment and selection instrument.;The purpose of this study was to determine if personality as measured by the MMPI had a differential effect on SFQC outcome. This investigation analyzed the MMPIs of 851 first-time SFQC graduates and 185 SFQC failures to determine if rationally derived MMPI standard validity and clinical scales could differentiate the two groups. Another sample of 1419 SFQC candidates was subdivided into six rationally derived MMPI codetype groups and a control group to determine if the codetype groups had lower rates of first-time graduation in comparison to the control group.;For single MMPI scales, a MANOVA statistical analysis found that Scales L, F, 1, and 8 showed reliable differences between the two groups, such that nonselected candidates were more psychologically distressed or maladjusted in comparison to first-time graduates.;The results of a discriminant analysis indicated that 4% of the variability in the discriminant scores was attributed to differences between the MMPI scale scores of first-time graduates and course failures. Standardized discriminant function coefficients indicated that Scales L, 8, and 1 were the most powerful scales for separating groups.;For the MMPI codetype groups, crosstabulation results showed that the spike 4 codetype group had a 30% lower rate of first-time graduation than the control group.;The results of this study were logically consistent within and between statistical analyses and verified personality traits associated with the hypothetical personality profile of the unsuccessful SFQC candidate, including increased rebelliousness, impulsivity, egocentricity, immaturity, and personal inadequacy. |
