The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) - Little more than acculturated learning (Gc)!?

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is administered to o ver 1 million participants in the USA each year, serving either as a screen ing test for military enlistees or as a guidance counseling device in high schools. In this paper, we examine the factorial composition of the ASVAB i n relation to the theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence and Carroll 's [1993. Human cognitive abilities: a survey of factor-analytic studies. N ew York: Cambridge Univ. press.] three-stratum model. In two studies (N= 34 9, N= 6751), participants were administered both the ASVAB and tests design ed to measure factors underlying these (largely) analogous models. Explorat ory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) of correlational data suggested that the ASVAB primarily measures acculturated learning [crystallized intel ligence (Gc)]. This evidence does not support the frequent claim that this test measures psychometric g. Our conclusion is that the ASVAB should be re vised to incorporate the assessment of additional broad cognitive ability f actors, particularly fluid intelligence and learning and memory constructs, if it is to maintain its postulated function. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science In c. All rights reserved.