NEO Personality Inventory-Revised Normative Data that Distinguish U.S. Air Force AC-130 Gunship Sensor Operators from Enlisted Airmen Who Fail Training and Peers in the General Population

Abstract

United States Air Force (USAF) AC-130 gunship sensor operators (SOs) represent a unique group of enlisted airmen in a high-demand, high-risk position where they have a central role in reconnaissance, surveillance, and aerial precision-strike operations in combat. Although there is research on the influence and role of personality traits regarding USAF pilots and other high-demand, high-risk aviation-related military positions, there has been much less focus on the personality traits of AC-130 gunship SOs. To fill the gap in the literature, the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) was administered to enlisted airmen who had successfully passed training (n = 59) as well as failed training (n = 20) in an effort to (a) assess how the personality traits of such a specialized group of enlisted airmen (SO incumbents) differ from the civilian general population, (b) assess how key personality traits (e.g., neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) for incumbents differ from enlisted airmen who failed training, (c) develop occupationally specific normative data and distribution of personality scores for use in aeromedical clinical psychological evaluations, and (d) illustrate the value of using occupationally specific normative data and cutoff values regarding personality test scores to improve the selection of future candidates who have a greater probability of success in training. Results assist military and civilian clinical psychologists with the interpretation of NEO PI-R psychological test scores for SO applicants and incumbents and inform decision makers on personality traits that may be useful in the selection process for this career field.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA550828

Entities

People

  • Amber Salinas
  • Kent Mcdonald
  • Mark S. Teachout
  • Wayne L. Chappelle

Organizations

  • United States Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Engineered Resilient Systems
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Aerospace Medicine
  • Air Force
  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Aircrafts
  • Battle Damage Assessment
  • Information Science
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • Personality
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychological Tests
  • Reconnaissance
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Training
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Psychometric Testing or Psychological Assessment.