The Practical Value of a Psychiatric Screening Interview in Predicting Military Ineffectiveness

摘要

A total of 1903 subjects who enlisted in the Naval service in 1960 were evaluated two years later and five measures of their military effectiveness were compared with clinical predictions made at the time of the brief psychiatric intake interview. Results indicate that while the initial clinical interview has low but statistically significant predictive validity, its unique significance all but vanishes when it is combined with the variables of age, educational achievement, and a measure of intelligence. Significant variations were found to exist in the validity of clinical judgments of above-average and below-average effectiveness depending upon the criterion and level of adaptation utilized. No consistent differences were found in the validity of initial clinical judgments for homogeneous sub-groups of enlistees. These results indicate that the Navy's brief psychiatric intake interview, as currently conducted, is of little practical value in prediction. (Author)