Association of personality traits with performance in military training

In today's era of asymmetric and unconventional warfare, psychological fitness is equally important as physical fitness. Personality assessment of soldiers, and more so officers who are leaders of men is essential in deciding what makes a good "War asset" The present study was conducted to explore the correlation between personality traits of cadets undergoing training in an Armed Forces Training Academy and their performance in terms of their military and academic pursuits.

Personality traits of 607 cadets determined using Revised Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) were compared and correlated with their performance in terms of Officer Like Qualities (OLQ), Outdoor activities (ODT), Academics, and Extracurricular Activities (ECA).

Cadets with high personality traits scores in Neuroticism and low scores in Conscientiousness (Work ethics) had performed poorly in all the domains/criteria for evaluation of performance viz Officer like qualities, Outdoor activities, Academics, and Extracurricular Activities. Further, a significant negative correlation was observed between facets of Neuroticism and Academics, ODT, and OLQ. In contrast, personality facets of Conscientiousness (Work ethic) were found to be positively correlated with performance in Academics, ODT, and OLQ. Extracurricular activities were found to be positively correlated with Modesty and Intellectual Curiosity.

The present study represents the first-ever attempt in Indian Armed Forces to correlate and identify personality traits most suited for military training. The findings of the study indicate that cadets with low scores of neuroticism and high scores of conscientiousness perform well in the military academy. However, more such studies are required to reaffirm the findings of the present study and to conclusively recommend personality traits most conducive for military training.