To Honor and Defend: State- and Individual-Level Analyses of the Relationship Between the U.S. Culture of Honor and Military Service

Understanding the factors that explain why some people are more likely to enlist in military service is an important endeavor for any nation that depends upon a voluntary military force. Three studies investigated the role of honor culture in military service. These studies assessed statewide differences in military enlistment rates (Study 1), individual differences in honor endorsement between military personnel and civilians (Study 2), and associations between honor endorsement and facets of military identification in a sample of active-duty Army personnel (Study 3). Results showed that honor was strongly and consistently associated with military service, independent of a wide range of potential confounds (e.g., economic precariousness, rurality, gender, age, and military rank). This research extends previous studies on the honor-military service link and has potentially important implications for military recruitment strategies and for our understanding of why military service might be a risk factor for subsequent mental health problems.