Survival Analysis of Army Enlisted Defense Language Institute Graduate Attrition Factors
Abstract
Defense Language Institute (DLI) is the Department of Defenses (DOD) multi-service language school and on average hosts 2,648 students annually, at a cost of $323K per student. In an increasingly challenging recruiting environment, failure to recognize influential DLI graduate attrition factors places a heavier burden on recruiting efforts and the graduates follow-on command for retention. Utilizing the Person-Event Data Environment (PDE), this analysis looked at active duty enlisted Army service members who joined the military between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2012. After cleaning and joining four different datasets, there were 1,469 unique records. Kaplan-Meier, Cox Proportional Hazard, and Random Survival Forest models were used to identify which factors most contributed to DLI graduate attrition, and at which point in a soldiers career they left the service. Though slightly different, all models showed consistent results. The most significant variables contributing to attrition were age, ethnicity, marital status, language difficulty, education level, and AFQT percentile. Over half (52.1%) of observations have left the Army, with68.1% of this attrition taking place between 4 and 6.5 years of service. This analysis provides an improved understanding of when and why DLI graduate attrition occurs, supporting DOD decision makers in the development and adjustment of future policies focused on retention.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1212935
Entities
People
- Philip J. Lukanich
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School