The Association Between Base-Area Social and Economic Characteristics and Airmen's Outcomes

Abstract

A large body of work in sociology and related fields has found that neighborhood characteristics can have an impact on health and well-being beyond individual-level characteristics. Although members of the military and their families move more frequently than the average citizen and, in the case of active-duty service members, have the opportunity to live on a military installation rather than in the general community, the quality and characteristics of the areas where they live can also affect their, and their families', well-being. Military base services in disadvantaged neighborhoods can compensate for the lack of resources needed to be safe, secure, healthy, and thrive. Air Force Services asked the RAND Corporation to enhance its ability to tailor support for Airmen and their families through analysis of the relevance of neighborhood, or area, characteristics of the areas surrounding major Air Force installations in the United States. We applied established social indicators and neighborhood studies methodology to score 66 major Air Force installations in terms of their areas' social and economic characteristics, and to estimate the association between those scores and self-reported Airman outcomes related to health and well-being, military and neighborhood social cohesion, ratings of neighborhood resources, use of on-base resources, satisfaction, and career intentions. The objective was to identify which areas may have greater need for Air Force resources, so that Air Force Services can enhance its programming in those areas and consider those needs when making budget decisions. This document reports the results of that analysis. The research reported here was sponsored by the Air Force Office of Airman and Family Services (AF/A1SA) and conducted within the Manpower, Personnel, and Training Program of RAND Project AIR FORCE.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2014
Accession Number
ADA594374

Entities

People

  • Jeremy N. Miles
  • Laura L. Miller
  • Sarah O. Meadows

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Air Force Personnel
  • Business Administration
  • Data Analysis
  • Employment
  • Families (Human)
  • Geographic Regions
  • Geography
  • Health Services
  • Human Behavior
  • Management Personnel
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Families
  • Military Personnel
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Recreation

Readers

  • Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Proposed Air Force Base Actions.
  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Rehabilitation and Prosthetic Care for Military Service Members and Veterans with Limb Loss or Disability.