Correlation between demographic factors and healthy personalities of modern soldiers

Aim: To explore the influence factors on innovative personality, the essential element of soldiers' healthy personalities, intending to shape predominantly healthy personalities for soldiers of Chinese PLA and improve their battle effectiveness under the circumstance of modern wars. Methods: 562 grass-root male soldiers from one troop were selected as test sample from May to September 2003. Demographic variable setting (independent variable): The self-made general investigating questionnaire was used, the independent variables included: 1 age (age ≤20; age ≥ 21 years old); 2 length of military service: (length≤2 years; length≥3 years); 3 educational background (educational background≤junior high school; educational background≥senior high school); 4 satisfactory degree with position (satisfied; unsatisfied); 5 growing environment (urban; rural); 6 family possession (abundant: mean living cost per month≥400 yuan; poor: mean living cost per month ≤ 150 yuan); 7 number of sibling (singleton; not singleton). Personality variable (induced variable) extraction: Using the 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF) as the measuring tool to extract 6 source factors such as reasoning, dominance, social boldness, abstractedness, openness to change, self-reliance and generally induced creativity score as induced variables. Scoring and general evaluation followed the methods and formulas of the 16PF. Results: 633 questionnaires were set out, and 562 were valid ones completed in valid time with the efficiency rate of 88.8%. 1 The reasoning personality factor was positively related to the length of military service and educational background. That was, the reasoning personality factor tended to be in the high range significantly with the high scores of the length of military service and educational background. 2 Dominance was positively related to age, educational background, and satisfactory degree with position. 3 Social boldness was positively related to satisfactory degree with position and growing environment. That was, soldiers from rural environment had higher scores of social boldness than those from urban environment. 4 Higher educational background, higher satisfactory degree with position, and urban growing environment had positive influential effects on abstractedness. 5 Age, the length of military service, educational background, satisfactory degree with position, and urban growing environment had positive influential effects on openness to change. 6 Age, length of military service, educational background, and satisfactory degree with position had positive influential effects on self-reliance. 7 Age, length of military service, educational background, and satisfactory degree with position had positive influential effects on creativity. 8 Education background and satisfactory degree with position were high frequency variables of creativity, and openness to change and self-reliance were highly sensitive to demographic factors. Conclusion: Creativity is positively related to age, length of military service, education background and satisfactory degree with position. Education background may be the internal factor for creativity, satisfactory degree with position may be psychological driving force for creative personality, and length of military service may be external effect for personality under military growing environment.