psychological effects of relegation on cadets

Description

ABSTRACT

Background: Soldiers must cope with stressors during both military operations and training if they are to accomplish their missions successfully and stay mentally stable. This holds true particularly for military superiors, as they bear greater responsibilities and must meet greater demands during both deployment and training. Accordingly, in the present study, we investigated whether recruits chosen for further promotion at the end of basic training differed with regard to psychological distress and coping strategies from those relegated, and whether recruits’ coping styles and distress levels were associated.

Methods: A total of 675 cadet recruits took part in the study. At the beginning of basic training, recruits filled out self-rating questionnaires covering demographic data, psychological distress (depression, somatization, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, and hostility), and coping styles. Results were compared between those recruits who received a recommendation for further promotion at the end of basic training and those relegated at NDA kaduna.

Results: Recruits selected for promotion had lower scores for depressive symptoms and hostility, engaged more in active coping, and considered their coping to be more effective. Dysfunctional and functional coping were associated with higher and lower distress levels, respectively.

Conclusion: Recruits recommended for promotion exhibited less psychological distress during basic training and exhibited a socially more conducive profile of distress. They also endorsed more efficient and more prosocial coping strategies than those recruits but relegated. These cognitive–emotional features not only contribute to resilience but are also consistent with leadership research, indicating the importance of emotional stability and prosocial behavior in successful leaders.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER PAGE

TITLE PAGE

APPROVAL PAGE

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

• PROBLEM STATEMENT
• AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
• SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
• RESEARCH QUESTION
• SCOPE OF STUDY
• PROJECT ORGANISATION

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

• REVIEW OF THE STUDY
• SOURCE OF THE CADET NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
• THE HARM OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS
• CADETS MANAGEMENT COUNTERMEASURES OF NEGATIVE EMOTIONS

CHAPTER THREE

• RESEARCH DESIGN
• SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHOD
• RELIABILITY OF THE INSTRUMENT
• STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0 RESULTS

4.1     RESULT

4.2     DISCUSSION

CHAPTER FIVE

• SUMMARY
• CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

CHAPTER ONE

1.0                                                    INTRODUCTION

1.1                                        BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Cadets are an important force in the future national defense construction, and play an important role in the building of the national security (Yang, 2010). But with the development of the society, cadets face more brutal information-based war, therefore, in the reform of military academy cadets put forward higher request, not only need to strengthen the strain of military training, improve the combat effectiveness, but also need to further strengthen professional knowledge learning, improve the quality of the military. Nervous demanding frequent, point strict management, training and learning of cultural knowledge also dare not relax. Pointing hard life makes cadets especially newly enrolled new students often fail to adjust to life in the military academy and produce negative emotions (Xu et al., 2010). Even the old students due to its source in the face of setbacks more widely are easy to fall into negative emotions, therefore, their degree of negative emotional state and mental health is eager to be focused.

Mood is a personal mental outlook and an attitude behavior of effective reaction (Chen, 2014). We can say that is a barometer of psychological well-being. That a person is in the negative emotion for a long time will cause a series of psychological problems, which is bad to mental health (Fijian, 2009). Negative emotions is mostly caused when cadets are relegated and this negative emotions pose a great threat to health of body and mind. In the long run, positive attention to cadet negative emotions to their mental health is very good. So in this paper, the psychological effect of cadet caused as a result of relegation shall be discussed in this work, its purpose is to analyze the source of negative emotions of cadets so as to put forward the countermeasures of promoting cadets psychological health development. An analysis was done to compare between those recruits who received a recommendation for further promotion at the end of basic training and those relegated.

1.3      PROBLEM STATEMENT

It is a well-known truth that cadets do dangerous and stressful work, and military personnel have an elevated risk of suffering from stress-related disorders following military deployment which can involve relegation (Smith et al., 2019). The risks of developing other psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse are also higher (Hoge et al., 2014). Although the military operates under different conditions in peace and war, military training in peacetime is nonetheless intended to provide preparation for combat situations. Its goal is to enable service personnel to perform under adverse conditions that offer little control, as a soldier’s performance in military operations is mission-critical and allows for little leeway (Orasanu et al., 2016).

1.4      AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main of the work is to carry out a study on the psychological effect of relegation on cadets of NDA Kaduna. The study seeks to establish the following objectives:

i.                    To ascertain the level psychological effects of relegation on cadets.

ii.                  To determine how relegation affect cadets psychologically

iii.                To ascertain how cadets cope with psychological effects of relegation.

1.5      SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study will help the reader to understand the deep meaning of relegation. This study will serve as a means of understanding the level of psychological problems in human being and how relegation can trigger psychological problems most especially among cadets.

1.6    RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

This study will test the following hypothesis:

Ho: There is a significant relationship between relegation and psychological problems

1.7    RESEARCH QUESTION

This study will provide answers to the following questions:

i.                    Does relegation affect cadets psychologically?

ii.                  Does cadet experience relegation?

iii.                How can relegation be coped with among cadets?

1.8                                                SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study covers investigating whether recruits chosen for further promotion at the end of basic training differed with regard to psychological distress and coping strategies from those that were relegated, and whether recruits’ coping styles and distress levels were associated. An analysis was done to compare between those recruits who received a recommendation for further promotion at the end of basic training and those relegated.

1.9                                                         PROJECT ORGANISATION

The work is organized as follows: chapter one discusses the introductory part of the work,   chapter two presents the literature review of the study,  chapter three describes the methods applied, chapter four discusses the results of the work, chapter five summarizes the research outcomes and the recommendations.