College, Jobs, or the Military? Enlistment During a Time of War^*

Abstract

Objective. This article questions what factors are associated with joining the military after high school rather than attending college, joining the civilian labor force, or doing some other activity. Three areas of influence on military enlistment are highlighted: educational goals, the institutional presence of the military in communities, and race and socioeconomic status. Method. The analysis uses data from a recent cohort of high school graduates from the State of Texas in 2002, when the United States was at war, and employs multinomial logistic regression to model the correlates of post-high-school choice of activity in this cohort. Results. Results confirm the hypothesis that a higher military institutional presence increases the odds of enlisting in the military relative to enrolling in college, becoming employed, or doing some other activity after high school. Additionally, college aspirations are clearly associated with the decision to enroll in college versus enlist and also increase the odds of joining the military rather than the civilian labor market, or remaining idle. Unlike previous studies, few racial and ethnic differences are found. Conclusion. Voluntary military enlistment during wartime is associated college aspirations, lower socioeconomic status, and living in an area with a high military presence.

Behavior in the Market for U.S. Army Recruits: PLS and 2SPLS Analysis of the Impact of Health Insurance Unavailability in the Non-Military Sector, 2003-2007

“…Furthermore, according to Segal, Bachman, & O'Malley (1999), the presence of a military parent, military grandparent or a military sibling within the family increases the propensity of a potential enlistee to enlist. This is consistent with more recent studies such as Kleykamp (2006) and Cebula, Menon, & Menon (2008) indicating that the institutional and cultural presence of the military within an area has a significant influence on the enlistment decisions made by youths.…”

“…The analysis furthers the idea that black youths regard the military as a vehicle for upward social and economic mobility and therefore are more likely to enlist in the military compared to white youths. This finding is consistent with Kleykamp (2006). Furthermore, according to Segal, Bachman, & O'Malley (1999), the presence of a military parent, military grandparent or a military sibling within the family increases the propensity of a potential enlistee to enlist.…”

Women's Work after War

“…Enlistees are highly self-selected. Men who choose military service differ systematically from those who go to work or enroll in college (Kleykamp 2006;. Enlistees tend to have lower socioeconomic status, non-college-educated parents, lower grades and no college plans (Bachman et al 2000;Kilburn 1992;Kilburn and Asch 2003;Kilburn and Klerman 1999;Teachman, Call, and Segal 1993a,b).…”

Modeling effective work groups and teams : an assessment of the inclusion of social value orientation.

“…Propensity can be general, relating to service in the military at large, or it can be specific to a specific branch of the Armed Forces (Shavelson, Haggstrom, and Winkler, 1983). Living near military installations increases propensity (Kleykamp, 2006), indicating that there are expected regional differences in propensity due to the regional asymmetric distribution of military bases. Segal, Bachman, Freedman-Doan, and O'Malley (1999) note that propensity is generally stable across time when measured at the state or National level, though in some subgroups (based on ethnicity and gender), generational shifts have been observed.…”

“…The options available for potential Army recruits to choose from might be summarized as education, employment, or enlistment; propensity is the predisposition to make a choice to join the Army (and so, while this variable is binary categorical for an individual, when aggregated to a population it is a continuous measure of the estimated percentage of the youth population that are predisposed to join and would state so if asked in a survey). This choice can be influenced by many factors: Asch, Kilburn, and Klerman (1999) argued that the military is often in direct competition with universities for the best educated youth graduating high schools; Kleykamp (2006) conducted a study in Texas and found that expected increases in education costs often lead young people to use the military instrumentally to facilitate later education, further highlighting the relationship between the three options. Orvis, Sastry, and McDonald (1996) defined propensity as an overall measure that summarizes an individual's initial interest to join.…”