Study of the effect of military training courses on psychological empowerment of the soldiers affiliated to the ground force of the Iranian Army

Every year a large number of male youths join the army to offer compulsory military service they are then required to attend preliminary military training course for two months so that they can get prepared for main service. To this end, this study addressed the effect of such courses on their psychological empowerment. For this purpose, 230 soldiers were randomly selected from one of the training centers affiliated to the ground force and were studied based on a quasi- experimental research run based on spirit’s fivefactor model. Paired t-test was run to this End which revealed significant effect of the courses on their psychological development. This means that the main and three minor research hypotheses were supported, but the minor hypotheses addressing autonomy and effectiveness were rejected, insignificant effects are attributed to factors such as average age (i.e.25.1), short-term nature of the course, prior academic achievements, job experiences, particular conditions in the training centers and negative effect of the training course in certain areas. However, the course effectiveness can be enhanced in the light of observing the suggestions made.