FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
PUBLICATIONS
AVIATION MEDICINE REPORTS

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-93/4

Title and Subtitle: Contributions of Personality Measures to Predicting Success of Trainees in the Air Traffic Control Specialist Nonradar Screen Program

Report Date: April 1993

Authors: Schroeder, D.J., Broach, D. and Young, W.C.

Abstract: Reviews have consistently concluded that the validity of personality as a predictor of job performance is low (Besco, 1991; Reilly & Chao, 1982: Tenopyr & Oeltjen, 1982). However, Barrick and Mount's (1991) meta-analysis of studies of personality and job performance demonstrated the utility of the "Big Five" model of personality (Digman, 1990) in personnel selection and training.

This study was designed to evaluate the utility of personality in predicting student success in the FM's Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) Nonradar Screen Program ("the Screen"). The Screen follows the miniature training, testing, and evaluation paradigm (Siegel, 1983), in which individuals with no prior knowledge of the occupation are taught critical aspects of the job and then assessed on a pass/fail basis for their potential to succeed as controllers. The NEO Personality Inventory ("NEO-P'I"; Costa & McCrae, 1985) was administered to 723 men and 307 women at entry into the 9-week Screen. NEO-Pl scale scores and cognitive aptitude measures were used to predict final composite scores (COMP) of students. Men and women air traffic students exhibited lower average scores in Neuroticism, higher average scores in Extroversion, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness, and no difference on Agreeableness when compared to normative samples. Correlations between the personality scales and COMP were low for both sexes, ranging from .000 with Impulsiveness, a facet of Neuroticism, to-.148 with Excitement-seeking, a facet of dimension.

Despite the lower zero-order correlations, several of the personality facets proved useful in a regression equation, explaining an additional 3% of variance in performance over that explained by cognitive aptitude measures These included Excitement-seeking, Fantasy, Activity, and Ideas. While these results were not entirely consistent with Barrick and Mount (1991). they do offer some support for the role of personality variables in the prediction of success in the ATCS Screen. continued research is needed to assess the relationship of theoretically-based measures of personality to success on the job over time.

Key Words: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openess, Agreeableness, Concientiousness, Personality, Air Traffic Control Specialist, Screen, Domain, Facet

No. of Pages: 32