Impact of Military Downsizing on the Life Course of Russian Officers and Their Wives

这是对俄罗斯军官及其妻子进行的第二波小组研究，其中约有一半人因裁员而离职。 俄罗斯军队的缩编是在经济和社会发生重大变化的情况下进行的。 这是一项准实验性研究，目的是比较即将退伍的军官及其妻子与在职军官及其妻子在生命历程中的变化。 第1波调查的实地工作在1995年10月至1996年1月或出院前3-6个月进行。 对1 804名军官和1 616名配偶进行了访谈，从多个方面衡量了他们的职业、对就业的态度和信念，以及他们家庭的物质和社会心理状况。 这项研究将在1997年初，即第一波调查之后大约15至18个月进行一次后续调查，从而大大丰富数据集。 到1997年初，一些军官将失业，一些将重新就业，而其他留在军队的人将目睹他们以前的同事的困境。 预计受访者样本包括1，530名人员和1，374名配偶。 这一具有历史意义的缩小规模将有助于从生命历程的角度，压力文献和身份理论来检验假设。 总体模型包括：（1）追踪失业对军官职业道路、家庭生活（例如，（2）探讨潜在的中介因素（工作中断产生影响的过程）和调节因素（具体说明影响的范围）;（3）评估裁员对“组织幸存者”（没有被解雇的人员）的影响;以及（4）研究对家庭（特别是妻子）的影响。 这项研究建立在美国对失业的社会心理影响的研究基础上，从而为关于压力和人类科普压力的方式的基本文献做出了贡献，并在比以往工作中通常检查的更大的紧张条件下获得了见解。 该项目对外交政策有影响，因为它对理解俄罗斯的军事缩编和这个大国成为现代民主国家的斗争至关重要。 这些转变的成败将决定世界环境的质量和全球变化的进程。

This is the second wave of a panel study of Russian army officers and their wives, about half of whom are leaving the service as a result of downsizing. Russian military downsizing is occurring under conditions of substantial economic privation and social change. This is a quasi-experimental study of changes in the life course of officers who will be discharged and their wives, compared to officers remaining in service and their wives. Fieldwork for Wave 1 surveys was carried out between October, 1995, and January, 1996, or 3-6 months prior to discharges. A total of 1,804 officers and 1,616 spouses were surveyed through an interview that measured many dimensions of their career, attitudes and beliefs concerning employment, plus the material and social-psychological situations of their families. This study will administer a follow-up survey in early 1997, approximately 15-18 months after the Wave 1 survey, thus greatly enriching the data set. By early 1997, some officers will be unemployed, some will be re-employed, and others who remain in the military will be witnessing the plight of their former fellow officers. The respondent sample is anticipated to include 1,530 officers and 1,374 spouses. This historically important downsizing will facilitate testing hypotheses from the life course perspective, the stress literature, and identity theories. The overall model includes (1) tracing effects of job loss on officers' career paths, family life (e.g., marital satisfaction and wife's employment), and psychological well-being; (2) exploring potential mediators (processes by which job disruption has effects) and moderators (specifying the scope of effects); (3) assessing effects of downsizing on "organizational survivors" (officers who are not discharged); and (4) examining effects on the family, especially wives. This research builds on American studies of the social psychological effects of job loss, thus contributing to the fundamental literature on stress and the w ays that human beings cope with it, with insights gained under conditions of greater tension than usually has been examined in previous work. The project has implications for foreign policy, because is vital to understand Russian military downsizing and the struggle of this vast nation to become a modern, democratic state. The success or failure of these transformations will determine the quality of the world environment and the course of global change.