Surveys of Officer and Enlisted Personnel and Military Spouses, 1985

Resource Information

The work Surveys of Officer and Enlisted Personnel and Military Spouses, 1985 represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Bowdoin College Library. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Surveys of Officer and Enlisted Personnel and Military Spouses, 1985

Creator

• United States Department of Defense. Defense Manpower Data Center
• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]

Author

• United States Department of Defense. Defense Manpower Data Center

Contributor

• Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor]

Subject

• military officers
• military pay
• military personnel
• military spouses
• admin
• survey
• single parents
• armed forces
• military families
• military life

Genre

• survey
• admin

Summary

The two surveys that constitute this study -- the 1985 Survey of Officer and Enlisted Personnel (1985 Member Survey) and the 1985 Survey of Military Spouses (1985 Spouse Survey) -- were conducted in order to study various issues relating to military personnel. Areas of investigation included (1) the response of personnel to changes in military compensation and benefits enacted in previous years, (2) factors affecting readiness and retention of active duty personnel, (3) projected behavior of military personnel in response to possible changes in personnel management, (4) differences in career orientations, attitudes, and experiences among members of different subgroups, e.g., minorities, men, and women, (5) the demographic, household, familial, and other characteristics of military personnel, couples, and families, including special groups such as dual-career couples and single-parent families, (6) the impact of military policies on aspects of military and family life such as residential arrangements, continuing education, and spouse employment, (7) family well-being, including economic issues facing military families, and (8) demand for, use, and perceived adequacy of programs providing family services. Data collected by the Member Survey include branch of service, pay grade, military occupation, length of stay at current location, problems encountered at current location and in moving to the location, expected pay grade upon leaving the military, probable behavior under different personnel management options, civilian work experience and earnings, and the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with various aspects of military life such as pay and allowances, personal freedom, acquaintances and friendships, work group and co-workers, assignment stability, environment for families, frequency of moves, retirement benefits, promotion opportunities, job training and in-service education, job security, medical care, and dental care. The Spouse Survey covered some of the subjects included in the Member Survey, but with differing levels of detail and emphasis. Attitudes gauged by the Spouse Survey include satisfaction/dissatisfaction with military housing, rights of civilian spouses, levels of demands made on civilian spouses, availability of job opportunities for civilian spouses, and childcare centers at military bases. Additional information gathered by the surveys includes sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, income and debt, marital status, educational attainment, number and ages of dependents, whether or not dependents were handicapped, and main language spoken at home. Data for the Member Survey and the Spouse Survey are supplied in separate files. A Couple File, comprising husband/wife pairs, contains merged data from both surveys