Gender Differences in Demographic, Work, and Non-Work Factors Associated with New Parents' Intentions to Remain in the Air Force

Background and Purpose: Following the change to an all-volunteer military in 1973, the United States has faced challenges recruiting and retaining men and women in the military. Women’s military roles have expanded, and now include combat, but servicewomen continue to be retained at lower rates than servicemen.

The Armed Forces Retention Model (AFRM) and previous research suggest that the “shock” of having a baby may be a key factor in women’s and men’s decisions to leave the service. Since the majority of servicemembers are of the ages when they are likely to have children, consideration of factors that help retain new parents in the military is important.

The current study, guided by the AFRM, examined gender differences in factors influencing the career commitment of officer and enlisted active duty Air Force personnel who have a new child.

Methods: Using 2011 Air Force (AF) Community Assessment Survey data and multivariate linear regression, this study examined demographic, work, and non-work factors impacting the career commitment of married AF members who had a baby in the last year (n=4,611).

Demographics included number of children and marriage to an active duty spouse. Work factors included years in the military, days deployed since 2001, belief that local commanders effectively support members’ and their families’ needs, workgroup cohesion, and satisfaction with the Air Force. Non-work factors included depressive symptoms, personal coping, family coping, marital satisfaction, career support from significant other, and unmet childcare needs.

Results: Findings indicate that three factors were consistently associated with new AF parents’ intentions to continue military careers: more years in the military (β=.23 for fathers; β=.39 for mothers), satisfaction with the AF (β=.34 for fathers; β=.30 for mothers), and career support from significant other (β=.25 for fathers; β=.31 for mothers).

Several factors were unique to specific subgroups. Marriage to an active duty spouse was associated with lesser intentions to remain in the military among female officers (β=.-.17), while marital dissatisfaction was associated with stronger intentions to continue military careers among enlisted females (β=.15) and male officers (β=.17). Unique to enlisted fathers, poorer family coping was associated with greater intentions to stay in the military (β=-.10).

Conclusion and Implications: Findings suggest that policies aimed at improving servicemembers’ military life satisfaction could improve retention. Further, policies aimed at garnering military spouses’ career support might improve new military parents’ career commitment. Research on male spouses’ willingness to support their partners’ careers is severely lacking and should be expanded.

Given this study’s findings that poorer family coping was associated with greater intention to continue military service, and that poor family coping could negatively impact deployment readiness and mission performance, additional policies targeting the reduction of work and family strain may be considered as a means to minimize potential risk to the military mission.

Finally, new mothers who were officers in dual active duty marriages were less likely to intend to continue military careers. Expanding support to dual military families (e.g., easing couples’ abilities to be stationed together) may prove important in retaining top female talent.