Satisfação de vida, estilos parentais e personalidade em militares e universitários

Abstract

A influência ambiental é tida como certa no desenvolvimento humano. Contudo, alguns ambientes específicos exercem influências tardias no desenvolvimento. A psicologia militar tem se estabelecido como campo de pesquisa e atuação profissional desde a Primeira Grande Guerra, principalmente nos Estados Unidos e Europa. O ambiente militarizado, costumeiramente relacionado com a fase adulta de vida, tem sido pouco estudado no Brasil, suscitando uma lacuna importante de conhecimentos psicológicos. Neste estudo, cadetes da Academia Militar das Agulhas Negras (N=373) e universitários (N=73) responderam instrumentos psicológicos sobre bem-estar subjetivo, estilos parentais e personalidade. Para fins de análise, a amostra militar foi subdividida por diversos critérios: ter pai militar, ter estudado em Colégios Militares, ter parentes militares (que não o pai). Diferenças significativas foram encontradas entre a amostra militar e universitária e entre filhos de militares e não-filhos de militares. Filhos de pais militares apresentaram maior satisfação de vida e maior freqüência de pais e mães responsivos que outros cadetes. Ex-alunos de Colégio Militar mostraram-se mais autônomos e propensos a novas experiências, além de melhor adaptação ao meio militar. Observou-se que a pontuação na escala de Afiliação foi significativamente mais alta entre os militares, entre outras diferenças nas escalas do IFP, mas não houve diferença na Escala de Desejabilidade Socia!. Os resultados apontam a necessidade de novos estudos na área e com diferentes populações.

There seems to be no doubt that the environment has an influence in human psychological development. Nevertheless, it also seems that some specific environments may have an influence in development later on life. Military Psychology was established as research and work field since World War I, mainly at United States and Europe. The military environment, usually related to the adult stage of life, has received little attention from Brazilian psychologists and little is known of its effects in our country. The present study attempts to fill this gap investigating possible psychological differences between persons who live in a military environment and those who do not have any contact with it. Participants were 373 male students at Academia Militar de Agulhas Negras (a military school for training officers for the Brazilian army) and 73 male undergraduate students who never had any contact with a military environment. The military sample was further divided into groups of students who 1) have studied in military schools, 2) have a parent serving in the armed forces, and 3) have other relatives serving in the armed forces. The participants responded to scales to assess subjective well-being, parental styles, and personality traits. The results showed significant differences between the military and the undergraduate sample and between participants who had a father serving at the armed forces and those who did not. Participants whose father was serving presented higher subjective well-being scores and perceived their father and mother as more authoritative. Those who had studied at military secondary schools presented more autonomy and were more open to new experiences. The non-military undergraduate participants tended to perceive their parents as more authoritarians. Affiliation scale score was higher to army cadets, among other significant differences, but Social Desirability scale shown no difference. The results stress the need to study the influence of military environments on psychological development in a more systematic way in Brazil.