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The Impact of Graduate Education on the Mental Complexity of Mid-Career Military Officers

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Abstract

This paper empirically explores baseline levels of mental complexity among military graduate students as defined by constructive-developmental theory, reports changes in baseline scores during their year-long enrollment in a professional graduate degree program, and, through the use of quasi-experimental design and comparison groups, examines the efficacy of developmental interventions. We used the subject-object interview with a 16-item scale for pretesting and posttesting. This study shows that professional graduate education can have a significant impact on the development of one’s self-authoring capacity. Growth rates exceeded expectations; 69% of participants increasing mental complexity by one level and half of participants changed at rates unanticipated by the previous research. Growth rates were higher for participants entering graduate school with a socialized form of mind versus a self-authoring form of mind with 88% of dominant socialized experiencing growth versus 46% of dominant self-authoring. Findings suggest that graduate education programs can accelerate developmental growth toward self-authorship.

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  1. Naval War College, 686 Cushing Road, Newport, RI, 02841, USA

    Liz Cavallaro

  2. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA, 01609, USA

    Brent French

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  1. Liz Cavallaro
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  2. Brent French
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Correspondence to Brent French.

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Cavallaro, L., French, B. The Impact of Graduate Education on the Mental Complexity of Mid-Career Military Officers. J Adult Dev 28, 182–193 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-021-09377-1

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