Meanings Propensity: Perspectives from in-Depth Interviews

摘要

The Youth Attitude Tracking Study (YATS) in-depth interviews were conducted to enhance our understanding of enlistment propensity. The in-depth interviews followed a research protocol that asked youth about their post-high school career decisions/intentions, especially as they related to enlistment propensity. Other areas probed by the protocol included current and prior enlistment propensity and reasons for change and the images youth have of military life. The in-depth interviews were conducted in a structured but open- ended manner that allowed youth to 'tell their stories' in their own words and at their own pace. This paper summarizes the results of this study as they relate to enlistment propensity. The title of our paper consciously includes the plural noun 'meanings' to emphasize two of our major findings. First, propensity is a dynamic concept constantly changing in response to personal and external conditions. Second, propensity, whether positive or negative, can have very different meanings for different youth. Positive propensity for some youth merely means that they have not yet decided which career path to take, and for other youth, positive propensity indicates an immediate readiness, willingness, and desire to enlist in the military.