Demographic, psychosocial, and physical fitness predictors of successful graduation from U.S. Army Ranger School.

U.S. Army Ranger School is an arduous 64-day leadership training course designed to simulate the stressors of combat. Although physical fitness has been shown to be an important predictor of successful graduation for Ranger School, psychosocial characteristics like self-efficacy and grit have not been examined. The purpose of this study is to identify personal, psychosocial, and fitness characteristics associated with successful completion of Ranger School. This study was a prospective cohort examining the association of baseline characteristics of Ranger School candidates with a primary outcome of graduation success. Multiple logistic regression was performed to determine the contribution of demographics, psychosocial, fitness and training characteristics to graduation success. Out of 958 eligible Ranger Candidates, this study obtained graduation status for 670 students, 270 (40%) of which graduated. Soldiers who graduated were younger, more likely to come from units with a higher proportion of previous Ranger School graduates, had higher self-efficacy and faster 2-mile run times. The results from this study suggest that Ranger students should arrive in optimal physical conditioning. Furthermore, training programs that optimize student self-efficacy and units with a high proportion of successful Ranger graduates may confer advantage for this challenging leadership course.

Evaluating racial disparity in referral source and successful completion of substance abuse treatment.

Health disparity is a significant problem in the United States, and particularly for substance abuse treatment programs. A better understanding of racial differences in treatment pathways associated with successful treatment completion is needed to reduce the existing health disparities. Referral source is a strong predictor of treatment success and most research on health disparities has focused on the criminal justice referrals. However, little research has examined other types of referral sources, and the interaction with race. The current study sought to compare the effect of referral sources on national substance abuse successful treatment completion rates between Black clients (n=324,625) and White clients (n=1,060,444) by examining the interaction of race on referral source and successful treatment completion. Race significantly moderated the difference between referral source and successful treatment completion (Wald χ(2)=1477.73, df=6, p<0.0001). Employment referral was associated with the greatest percentage of successful treatment completion for Black clients. Criminal justice referral was associated with the greatest percentage of successful treatment completion for White clients. Results from the present study support a reevaluation of incentives leading to successful treatment completion with a multicultural perspective.