Research Brief
What Effects Decisions to Enlist in the Military
Jan 1, 2001
Evidence From Individual-Level Data
Format | File Size | Notes |
---|---|---|
PDF file | 4.4 MB | Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience. |
Format | List Price | Price | |
---|---|---|---|
Add to Cart | Paperback100 pages | $25.00 | $20.00 20% Web Discount |
This work updates previous estimates of individual enlistment models, investigating the relationship between family, individual, local labor market, and other background characteristics and the decision to enlist. The study makes three primary innovations to earlier models. First, it uses data from the early 1990s, while the most recent estimates were from the early 1980s. The data report the enlistment behavior of a cohort of individuals from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS) who were high school seniors in 1992. In general, the authors find that their coefficient estimates are similar to those estimated by earlier models, while the mean levels of the explanatory variables are more often significantly different from those in earlier data. Second, the authors explore the utility of including some additional variables in the model that are more relevant to the 1990s or were not available in early data. These include measures of immigrant status, criminal behavior, drug use, in-state college tuition, and whether parents were in the military. The research finds that immigrant status, criminal behavior, and having parents in the military are significant determinants of individual enlistment decisions. Third, the authors estimate the individual enlistment decision as a three-choice decision-whether to enlist, enroll in college, or work after high school graduation-in contrast to earlier studies, which modeled the enlistment decisions as a two-way choice of whether to enlist or not. The study concludes that the trivariate-choice model dominates the bivariate model because it produces more significant coefficient estimates and yields more insights into the reasons that individuals enlist rather than choosing alternative activities.
Chapter One
Introduction
Chapter Two
Model of Individual Enlistment Decisions
Chapter Three
Changes in the Recruiting Environment
Chapter Four
Nels Data
Chapter Five
Results
Chapter Six
Conclusions
Appendix A
Supplementary Tables
Appendix B
Testing for Differences from Hosek and Peterson Results
The research was performed under the auspices of RAND's Army Research Division and National Security Research Division.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Monograph report series. The monograph/report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph/reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.
This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.