SUBSCREEN Program:

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SUBSCREEN Program Psychological Screening of
Prospective Submariners James C.
Whanger SUBSCREEN Director Naval Submarine
Medical Research Laboratory
Financial Sponsors CNO-N779, ONR, BUMED
Collaborators CAPT D. Southerland, Dr. W. Horn,
Ms. Alison America, Jerry Lamb, Ph.D. and Mark
Bing, Ph.D.
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Psychological Demands of Submarine Environment

• Socially Intense
• No escape from workplace conflict
• No personal space
• Little to no contact with significant others
• Cognitively Demanding
• Submarine jobs require focused attention
• They tend to be complex
• Long hours
• Sleep Deprivation

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History of Psychological Screening in the U.S.
Navy Submarine Force

• 1920s - group interviews of prospective
  submariners (McGuire, 1990)
• 1940s - screening battery Shock Fusion Time Test,
  the New London NDRC Confidential Questionnaire,
  the NRC Neurotic Inventory, and the Personal
  Inventory (NDRC Project 44, Div. 7, 1943)

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History (cont.)

• 1950s 60s The Personal Inventory Barometer
  (PIB) was developed and utilized for 25 years to
  assess anxiety, attitudes towards submarine duty,
  motivation, suicide ideation, and depression
  (Weybrew Noddin, 1969)
• SUBSCREEN was developed during the 1970s and
  80s by Kendall Bryant from an effort to update
  the psychological screening program for the
  submarine force and was implemented as a means to
  refer prospective submariners for clinical
  psychological interviews in 1986 (Schlichting,
  1993)

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SUBSCREEN Test

• 240-item self-report questionnaire implemented in
  1986
• Factors into 6 Dimensions
• Vulnerability
• Anti-Military
• Depression-Suicide
• Efficacy
• Anti-Social
• Social Isolation
• Database norms for
• 30,000 enlisted
• 4,400 officers

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Current Utilization

• With the current SUBSCREEN program 3 of
  submarine duty candidates are eliminated for
• Personality Disorders
• Suicidal Ideation
• Depression
• Problems with Nuclear Duties
• High probability of adverse attrition for
  misconduct, substance abuse, psychological
  dysfunction, etc. (i.e., from SMART)
• Among other reasons (e.g., unreliability)

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Rate of Psychological Problems (Waiver/Disqual/Exp
editious ADSEP) in SUBPAC
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Results of SUBSCREEN Referral System
76 ATTRITE
20 ATTRITE

• Conclusion Current system removes approximately
  3 of BESS students from the submarine training
  pipeline.

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SUBSCREEN Referral Rates Across Time
Referred
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Overlap Between PRP SUBSCREEN

• DoD 5210.42-R SUBSCREEN Scales
• Attitude to Nuclear Duty Problems with Nuclear
  Duties
• Impulsiveness Impulsivity
• Suicide Attempt/Threats Suicidal Ideation
• Destructiveness Aggressive-Destructive
• Social Adjustment Social Isolation, Lack of
  Social Support
• Sadness Depression
• Dependability Problems Home/School
• Emotional Stability Low Situational Control,
  Anxiety
• Poor Attitude Coercive Attitudes
• Lack of Motivation Mistake Joining Sub Service

• Conclusion SUBSCREENs content validity is high,
  and it effectively identifies unreliable
  submarine duty candidates.

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SUBSCREEN Process
NAVSUBSCOL (NSMRL administers SUBSCREEN)
NSMRL scores the answer sheets generates
SUBSCREEN profiles
1. Qualified Return to BESS 2. Unqualified SF
Transfer 3. Unqualified ADSEP
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Ongoing Studies

• SMART Intervention Study
• Phase 1
• BESS MTIs are provided with a list of
  prospective submariners who flag on the SMART
  test
• Phase 2
• Counseling resources on the Sub Base are
  communicated and phone numbers and locations are
  given to participants
• Depression-Malingering
• NAVSCREEN
• Revised SUBSCREEN is being evaluated for use
  early in the pipeline
• Test Administration was conducted at RTC

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Development of SubMarine Attrition Risk Test
(SMART)

• Built a database of several thousand successful
  and unsuccessful Submariners who had taken
  SUBSCREEN when at BESS
• Successful
• Unsuccessful

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SMART Methodology

• Discriminant analysis produced a subset of
  SUBSCREEN scales that accurately categorized
  these groups, and this subset was termed the
  SubMarine Attrition Risk Test, or SMART
• Cross-validations (i.e., scientific replications)
  of SMART predicting attrition in training and
  fleet have been very successful

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SMART prediction capability for Enlisted
Attrition
Attrition
Count
Early attrition highly likely
Reenlisted
400
Attrited
Bars show counts numbers of sailors in database
300
Results shown validated via five replications
with specific groups.
200
100
-5.00
0.00
5.00
SMART Scores
Outcome SMART accurately predicts career success
career attrition rates for enlisted non-nuclear
submariners
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SUBFOR ROI

• Schoolhouse
• Early referrals for psychological interview
• Avoids future behavior problems by generating
  referral
• Removal from pipeline early in process if totally
  unsuitable
• SMART allows for finer tuning
• Targeted interventions (assuming trends
  continue)
• Lowers schoolhouse attrition and punishment rate
• Fleet
• Fewer negative issues shipboard
• Fewer medical evacuations
• Lower attrition
• Financial Benefit Cost of 1st term attritions
• 18.5 x 36 x 200K x 2,500 33.3 Million
  Dollars
• Assume SMART reduces attrition by 1/10th
• 18.5 x 32.4 x 200K x 2,500 29.97 Million
  Dollars
• 33.3 Million - 29.97 Million 3.33 Million in
  Annual Savings

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NAVSCREEN Validation Study

• Collected Data on revised SUBSCREEN test Oct.
  2005 Jan. 2006
• Tracked through RTC
• Currently Tracking through A School

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NAVSCREEN Sample - Disqualifications

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Next Steps NAVSCREEN

• Measurement Equivalence/Invariance
• Submarine Force and Surface
• Male and Female
• Majority Group and Minority Groups
• Track through the end of A School and Into the
  Fleet
• Psychological Attrition
• Legal Misconduct

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Future Research

• Shorten Length of Current Test
• Computerize - IRT
• Incorporate Measures of Temperament
• Incorporate Measures of Defensive Styles
• Incorporate Measures of Conditional Reasoning

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QUESTIONS?
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Navy Mandate for Psychological Screening of
Prospective Submariners

• MANMED Article 15-69 para 2(i) Because of the
  nature of the submarine duties, the
  psychological fitness of applicants for submarine
  training must be carefully appraised.

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SUBFOR ROI Prediction Based Decisions
Current use of SUBSCREEN SMART saves dollars
and labor
Outcomes Current Savings 5M/yr for annual
Implementation/carrying Cost of about 1/4M
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• Measurement Equivalence/Invariance strategy?
  (Vandenberg Lance, 2000 Vandenberg, 2002)
• Equality of covariance matrices across groups
• Configural Invariance same pattern of fixed
  and free factor loadings is specified for each
  group
• Metric Invariance factor loadings for like
  items are invariant across groups
• Scalar Invariance intercepts of like items
  regressions on the latent variables are invariant
  across groups
• Like items unique variances are invariant
  across groups
• Factor variances are invariant across groups
• Factor covariances were invariant across groups
• Factor means invariant across groups

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Personnel Reliability Program the SUBSCREEN
Test

• PRP
• Position Qualification
• Medical Exam
• Security Clearance
• Personal Interview

• DoD 5210.42-R
• C2.2.1. Criteria
• dependability and emotional stability
• good social adjustment
• positive attitude toward nuclear weapon duty
• C2.3.7. Poor Attitude or Lack of Motivation
• impulsiveness and destructiveness
• sadness and agitation
• C2.3.8. Suicide Attempt and/or Threats

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Rationale of SMART TE Problem

• 1st Term Attritions
• 18.5 fail to complete 1st tour (VADM
  Grossenbacher, 2003)
• 36 are psychologically-based (CAPT Gudewicz,
  2004)
• 200K is cost per Submariner upon completing
  A-School (CAPT Lotring, 2004)
• 18.5 x 36 x 200K x 2,500 (BESS Students Per
  Year)
• 33.3 Million Lost Annually
• Psychologically-based MEDEVACS
• 13 during a 10-month period in 2002 in SUBLANT
  alone
• 3 halted operations
• MEDEVACS can result in detection, mission failure
• Estimated Cost 3.9 million, or 300K per day
  per event

Problems