Study of the Effects of Locus of Control and Commitment on Retention and Performance at the United States Air Force Academy

摘要

The purpose of this thesis was to identify the effects of locus of control and commitment on retention and performance at the United States Air Force Academy. The immediate need for this research is to better understand factors that might contribute to either attrition from the Academy, typically 35 to 40 percent, or the military and academic performances of those cadets who chose to remain at the Academy. This study is an extension of a research plan initiated by the Office of Institutional Research at the United States Air Force Academy in 1982. It is only a small portion of a much larger study designed to understand attrition and to propose making meaningful changes to the admissions process, military training, and academic year training. Extensive survey measurement of commitment and locus of control, a personality measure of the degree to which people believe they have control of events around them or are controlled by outside forces was performed.