(PS4-97) To Honor and Defend: State-and Individual-Level Analyses of the Relationship Between the US Culture of Honor and Military Service

Abstract Text: As the United States (U.S.) relies on a voluntary military force and enlistment rates have declined nearly 40% since 1987, it is imperative to understand the factors that lead individuals to enlist in the military to better understand potential efforts to recruit, retain, and care for military service members. One overlooked factor that might affect enlistment is the cultural ideology of honor, which refers to the belief that one’s reputation must be upheld and defended at all costs. This poster presents two studies that examine the relationship between honor ideology and military enlistment assessed at both the state and individual level.

Study 1 analyzed military enlistment rates from 1999-2004 and 2009-2019 to see if enlistment differed based on timeframe or state honor classification system. Study 1 used Cohen’s (1998) classification system to categorize states as honor states (e.g., most Southern states) or dignity states (e.g., most Northern states). We estimated military enlistment rates via publicly available data from the Center for Naval Analyses’ “Population Representation in the Military Services” 2023 report. We created state population-adjusted “representativeness ratio” based on each state’s enlistment contribution in the U.S. Armed Forces. Results demonstrate that regardless of timeframe, honor states had higher enlistment rates (M = 1.12, 95% CI [1.05, 1.19]) than dignity states (M = 0.94, 95% CI [0.86, 1.02]).

Study 2 analyzed self-reported honor ideology and willingness to enlist in the military among self-identifying U.S. military personnel and civilians. Participants were U.S. adults who completed online self-report measures. (N = 879, M age = 50.06, SD = 18.47, range = 18–99, 50% female). Results demonstrate that honor endorsement was significantly higher among self-identifying military personnel (N = 128, M = 0.31, 95% CI [0.14, 0.48]) than self-identifying civilians (N = 751, M = −0.05, 95% CI [−0.12, 0.01]), p < .001) and honor endorsement predicted whether civilians stated they would enlist in the U.S. military if the U.S. became involved in the Russia and Ukraine conflict (OR = 1.42, p = .002).

The U.S. is well below target numbers for recruitment. Findings across these two investigations provide insight into characteristics that may lead to higher enlistment rates and highlight the importance of honor ideology among U.S military members. These results suggest that honor ideology may facilitate military enlistment, both the individual and state level. This work also has important implications for culturally tailored education efforts regarding lethal means safety suicide prevention messaging while maintaining a sense of honor, as suicide rates are high in honor states and tend to occur among military personnel via firearm.