Research for Personnel Retention

Survival curves for NPS female recruits were estimated through eight years of service using the FY 1979 cross-sectional data base. Separate analyses were performed for Class A school attendees and non-A school attendees, holding constant the effects of age, educational level, and mental group. Mean survival times (the areas under the survival curves) were then calculated for each recruit profile. We found that no further screening based on expected months of service is feasible. This is largely due to the fact that the NPS female population is already highly screened. As expected, educational level has the greatest impact on survival. Women with a high school diploma survive an average of 3-4 months longer than those with a GED certificate. The effect of mental group on survival is quite different for A school and non-A school attendees. Survival across mental groups is essentially constant for A school attendees but displays a downward trend as mental group declines for non-A school attendees. For A school attendees, there appears to be a generally increasing trend in survival as age increases. Purely from the standpoint of survival, ages 22 and older are the optimal recruiting ages for these recruits. On the other hand, non-A school attendees exhibit the opposite pattern of survival with respect to age, but to a lesser degree. These recruits have an optimal recruiting age of 17-22.