Junior Enlisted Army Personnel: Their Uses of Army Community Service (ACS) Programs and Services

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Junior Enlisted Army PersonnelTheir Uses of
Army Community Service (ACS) Programs and Services
Presentation for Symposium on Army
Spouses Sponsored by U.S. Army Community and
Family Support Center (CFSC) 18 June 2002
Prepared by Dr. Morris Peterson, Chief, Army
Personnel Survey Office, U.S. Army Research
Institute (ARI)
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Background Jr. Enlisted Use of ACS

• Purposes To identify for spouses of Jr.
  enlisted
• Which ACS programs and services they use and
  consider most important
• How they usually get their information about Army
  programs and services
• Results reported are from CFSCs 2001 Survey of
  Army Families IV, conducted for CFSC by ARI
• SAF IV was fielded 3 April through 18 July 2001
• Results of several reports from SAV IV are
  available on CFSCs MWR web site
  http//www.armymwr.com

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SAF IV Respondents

• Number of Respondents
• 4,097 spouses of officers
• 2,662 spouses of enlisted personnel
• 770 spouses of Jr. enlisted soldiers
• (PV2-CPL/SPC, E2-E4)
• Weighted to Army Strength (DEERS) 253,966
• Sampling Errors
• All (officers and enlisted personnel combined)
  1
• Officers 2
• Enlisted personnel 2
• Jr. enlisted 4
• Overall Response Rate 33

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Survey Questions ACS Use Importance

• Below is a list of some of the Army Community
  Service (ACS) programs and services for families.
  For each, please use the FIRST column to
  indicate whether you have used the program or
  service DURING THE LAST 2 YEARS. Use the SECOND
  column to indicate which THREE programs and
  services you consider to be the MOST IMPORTANT
  (regardless of whether you have used them during
  the last 2 years). (Q77)

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Jr. Enlisted Spouses Useof ACS Programs
Services - 1

• The most commonly reported ACS programs and
  services used by Jr. Enlisted spouses in the last
  2 years are the Welcome Packet (51.9), Income
  Tax Preparation (51.4), and the Lending
  Closet (27.0). (Q77)

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Jr. Enlisted Spouses Useof ACS Programs
Services - 2
Q77
Significant difference from all respondents
6 or larger
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Jr. Enlisted Spouses Use of ACSMost Important
Programs Services
Q77
Significant difference from all respondents
6 or larger
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Overall, how satisfied are you with the ACS
family programs and services?

• Over one-half (54) of the spouses of Jr.
  enlisted soldiers who have used ACS programs and
  services reported they were satisfied with ACS.
• Overall, 57 of all spouses reported they were
  satisfied with ACS. (Q78)

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Survey Question Sources of Info on Army
Programs Services for Families

• At your current location, how do you usually
  find out about the Army programs and services
  available for Army families? MARK ALL THAT
  APPLY. (Q80)

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Jr. Enlisted Spouses Sources of Infoon Army
Programs Services for Families

• The most commonly used sources of information are
  Friends and Neighbors (65.8), Post Newspaper
  (48.4), and Bulletin Boards on Post (29.6).
• Sources of information for Jr. enlisted spouses
  are very similar to those of all spouses. (Q80)

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Jr. Enlisted Spouses Sources of Info on Army
Programs Services for Families - 1
Q77
Significant difference from all respondents
6 or larger
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Jr. Enlisted Spouses Sources of Info on Army
Programs Services for Families - 2
Q77
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Summary of Findings - 1

• Spouses of Jr. enlisted personnel
  (PV2-CPL/SPC) generally use the same ACS programs
  and services that all spouses use. But, they
  are
• More likely to use Emergency Assistance
• Less likely to use EFMP and SITES
• Jr. enlisted spouses generally agree with all
  spouses on which ACS programs and services are
  most important, except that they are less likely
  to rate EFMP as being most important.

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Summary of Findings - 2

• Spouses of Jr. enlisted personnel generally use
  the same sources of information about Army
  programs and services that all spouses use,
  except that they are slightly less likely to use
  the Post Newspaper.
• As usual, multiple media and methods will be
  needed to reach out to the spouses of Jr.
  enlisted soldiers.