“Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB): Integrative Review of Validity Studies [AFHRL-TR-90-22]”, 1990-07-01 (; similar):
The purpose of this review was to integrate validity evidence relevant to the primary use of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) as a selection and classification tool for military manpower, personnel, and training systems. The review covers the period from the first use of ASVAB Form 1 in 1966 in the DOD Student Testing Program to the latest reports of the validity for ASVAB Forms 11, 12, 13, and 14. The review presents the evidence for the construct, content, and criterion-related validity of the ASVAB. 172 studies from the military and civilian sectors and from the professional literature were reviewed and summarized to show averaged validity for military occupations. Reviewed studies established the validity of the ASVAB as a predictor of success in military technical training schools, and its validity for other criteria such as first-term attrition and job performance. Implications of the review for the military selection and classification systems are discussed.
…This review discusses the validity of the ASVAB for a number of different types of criteria. Among them are final technical school training grade, time-to-completion for self-paced technical training courses, attrition from technical training, first-term attrition, and experimental job performance measures.
The primary conclusion from the review of the literature is that the ASVAB aptitude composites and Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) are valid predictors of final school grades, self-paced technical school completion times, first-term attrition, and job performance measures. The consistent finding from empirical, criterion-related studies shows that the five composites examined in this review (Mechanical-M, Administrative-A, General-G, Electronics-E and the AFQT) all predict final technical school grades with an order of magnitude between 0.55 and 0.60 (corrected for restriction in range). The validity coefficients of these five ASVAB composites against other criteria are lower, but still appreciable.