Domestic male adults, who are physically healthy and have correct personality, are under the obligation of sacred military service by the first clause of article 3 of the Military Service Law. So, they must live a military life that is cut off from th...
Domestic male adults, who are physically healthy and have correct personality, are under the obligation of sacred military service by the first clause of article 3 of the Military Service Law. So, they must live a military life that is cut off from their accustomed life on the whole for a certain period of time as a member of military organization. Their life in the barracks is carried out in special environment that is different from society. Since domestic military service is an obligation, it cannot but be a social and national concern.
Being self-assertive and having unique personality, soldiers of the day lived their life in family and society in accordance with their personality and dispositions before joining the army. So it is very difficult for them to adapt into military life which is uniform and focuses on command & submission.
Soldiers in the barracks suffer from maladjustment caused by the cutoff from external culture, separation from families, submission to control and regulation and change of sleep pattern. This maladjustment is expressed as personal anxiety, fear and anger due to the abhorrence of organized life and even extends to depression, thus causing such military accidents as desertion and suicide. On the other hand, the investigator's experience as an officer in command presents the fact that soldiers who are high in self-esteem and social support and have no stress well adapt themselves to military life.
For the investigator, an officer on active service, the issue of well-adjustment and maladjustment of soldiers to military life cannot be overlooked. In this vein, it is meaningful to examine soldiers' adjustment to military life in association with the stress in military. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of soldiers' self-esteem, social support and stress upon their adjustment to military life and then present basic data for the command of soldiers in military service and useful data for the prevention of negligent accident in the military.
In order to collect data, a questionnaire survey of 250 soldiers on obligatory service in a local army division in Jeollabuk-do area was carried out over the period from May 15 to 20, 2010. The data of 212 responses (84.8%) were used in study analysis, except the data of 38 responses of which reliability was problematic or which were lost.
Study findings are as follows:
First, in order to examine the influence of demographic features upon the adjustment to military life, one-way ANOVA and independent sample t-test were carried out. Schooling and parental pattern had significant influence upon the adjustment to military life. In other words, the adjustment index of soldiers whose schooling was high and who had father and mother was higher than that of soldiers who did not.
Second, as for the relative influence of independent variables in the three influential factors, such as self-esteem, social support and stress, upon the adjustment to military life, the influence self-esteem upon the adjustment to military life was most significant and social support also had significant influence upon it, thus partly verifying study hypothesis 1.
Third, when demographic features were controlled, the parental pattern was most influential factor upon the adjustment to military life and self-esteem and social support also had significant influence upon the adjustment to military life, thus partly verifying study hypothesis 2.
As above, study findings show that self-esteem, social support and parental pattern have significant influence upon the adjustment to military life and their relationship is so close. Based on study findings, the investigator presents following improvement strategies for soldiers' adjustment to military life, which enhancing soldiers' self-esteem and social support and particularly taking care of soldiers who have no parents:
Study hypotheses were partly verified, but follow-up studies must deal with the portion, this study could not deal with by the limitation of study. In order to supplement the limitation of this study on the influence of self-esteem, social support and stress upon the adjustment to military life, follow-up studies must deal with following fields:
First, studies on the adjustment to military life must be carried out comparing the stress by the branches of military service in the army, navy and air force. Environment of soldiers on obligatory service is substantially the same, but the characteristic of mission and task of the army, navy and air force are quite different. For example, the stress of navy on board and the army on ground service is seemingly very different. So, it seems to be necessary to examine the influence of stress upon the adjustment to military service by the patterns of armed force and the branches of military service.
Second, follow-up studies must deal with the psycho-social environment of officers and vice-officers who are possible to have influence upon solders' adjustment to military service, focusing on its influence upon the command environment of soldiers and the influence of command patterns upon the extent of soldiers' self-esteem, social support and stress. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a tool to evaluate the psycho-social environment of professional soldiers.
Third, follow-up studies must deal with the geographical environment of military units. As is generally known, the capital area, part of Gangwon-do and insular areas are classified into remote and wild areas. Even veterans who completed their service in those areas lay bare their difficulty of military service in geographically inadequate and poor environment. Therefore, it is necessary to compare between soldiers in remote and wild locations and easily accessible big cities.
Fourth, besides the psycho-social factors, other factors which seem to have influence upon the adjustment to military life must be dealt with in follow-up studies. Such physical environments as amenities and such welfare environments as leaves, sleep-outs, go-outs, visits and various rewards, which have influence upon soldiers' real life directly and indirectly, must be studied.