Further Examination of the Unit Cohesion Index.

The psychometric properties of the Unit Cohesion Index, developed by Mangelsdorff et al. (1989) from the Platoon Cohesion Index (Siebold and Kelly, 1988), were further examined. Because of highly homogenous sample consisting of hospital personal and an over representation of officers, the factor solution of the previous study and its derived scales were accepted for the further analysis. The reliability estimates were considerably high in spite of that. The test-retest-reliability was very high as well. The preceived unit cohesion was in the moderately high range. This finding is of interest to commanders. Group comparisons showed that enlisted perceived a higher unit cohesion than officers. The other independent variables had no effect by themselves, but in combination with the rank group. Officers with 4 to 10 years in military service perceived less unit cohesion, especially when they themselves were new members in their units. The study points to this group of personnel to be focused on when concerned with unit cohesion in reserve hospitals. From a psychometric point of view the group comparisons showed that the questionnaire was not confounded with measuring or reflecting the independent variables. The questionnaire 'Unit Cohesion Index' turned out to be psychometrically sound.