Mental Skills Training With Basic Combat Training Soldiers: A Group-Randomized Trial

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Adler, Amy B.; Bliese, Paul D.; Pickering, Michael A.; Hammermeister, Jon; Williams, Jason; Harada, Coreen; Csoka, Louis; Holliday, Bernie; Ohlson, Carl
• 署名单位: United States Department of Defense; United States Army; Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR); Eastern Washington University; Research Triangle Institute; United States Military Academy; United States Department of Defense; United States Army; United States Department of Defense; United States Army; United States Military Academy
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0000021
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 1752-1764
• 关键词: cognitive training; sport psychology; performance; basic combat training; soldiers

摘要

Cognitive skills training has been linked to greater skills, self-efficacy, and performance. Although research in a variety of organizational settings has demonstrated training efficacy, few studies have assessed cognitive skills training using rigorous, longitudinal, randomized trials with active controls. The present study examined cognitive skills training in a high-risk occupation by randomizing 48 platoons (N = 2,432 soldiers) in basic combat training to either (a) mental skills training or (b) an active comparison condition (military history). Surveys were conducted at baseline and 3 times across the 10-week course. Multilevel mixed-effects models revealed that soldiers in the mental skills training condition reported greater use of a range of cognitive skills and increased confidence relative to those in the control condition. Soldiers in the mental skills training condition also performed better on obstacle course events, rappelling, physical fitness, and initial weapons qualification scores, although effects were generally moderated by gender and previous experience. Overall, effects were small; however, given the rigor of the design, the findings clearly contribute to the broader literature by providing supporting evidence that cognitive training skills can enhance performance in occupational and sports settings. Future research should address gender and experience to determine the need for targeting such training appropriately.