Abstract:
1. To study the characteristics of the entering students in the year 1983, studying 5 aspects of each force, to study them as the Armed Forces cadets, secondary school information, educational and vocational plan, family background and general outlooks 2. To construct a profile of 5 aspects of characteristics of the cadets. 3. To compare the profile of the Armed Forces cadets in each force. Methodology Population used for this research were the Armed Forces cadets in the year 1983, consisted of 916 cadets and 87.22 percent of the data were returned. The instrument was a special questionnaire for the Armed Forces cadets, consisting of : The Armed Forces cadets background, The second part was about secondary school information, the third part was educational and vocational plan, the fourth part was family background and the fifth part was general outlooks. The data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). System showed percentage, Chi- square, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Sheffe's method. Findings The findings of the study can be summed up as follows: Cadets in the army force were nineteen years old and their fathers were in the military service. Their parents were educated from elementary schools. The Cadets were from science programs and from the central provinces of Thailand. Their grades were between mid and midlow levels. They had never been the leaders among their groups but they were interested in school activities. Having finished studying, they would continue their study with no planning. They inteaded to go to the border to fight for the country and worked for the public. Naval cadets were twenty years old. Their father were in the military and police service. Their parents were educated from elementary schools. They were all from science programs and from the central provinces of Thailand. Their grades were between mid and mid-high levels Having finished studying, they wanted to work in the big cities and some intended to study more but without specific planning. Air Force cadets were twenty years old. Their fathers were in the military service and some ran business. Their parents were educated from elementary schools. The Air Force cadets were from science programs and from the central provinces of Thailand. Their grades were between mid and mid-low levels. Having finished studying, they intended to work in the big cities and also work for the public. Police cadets were nineteen years old. Their fathers were in the military and police service. Their parents were educated from elementary school. The Police cadets were from the central provinces of Thailand. Their grades were between mid and mid high levels. Having finished studying, They would continue the study in a field of political science, they were certanity interested to work for public and being in Bangkok. 2.In comparison among the four forces: 2.1 It was found that the Army cadets and Police cadets were 19 years old but Naval cadets and Air Force cadets were 20 years old and they were significant difference at .01 level. Most of the cadets decided to be in the same force as their fathers' except Naval cadets were the sons of military and navy fathers. The Army cadets, Naval cadets and Police cadets' mothers were housewives except the Air Force cadets' mothers ran business. In comparison between the four forces, there were significant difference at .05 level. The Cadets and the Police Cadets enjoyed studying mathematics but the Air Force cadets and the Naval cadets enjoyed studying sciences. When comparing among four forces, there were significant diffe¬rence at .05 level. In comparison among grade point averages in the secondary school, it was found that the Army cadets and Air Force cadets had higher grades than Naval and Police cadets. There were significant difference at .05 level. As for educa tional plan, only Police cadets had a certain plan. There were significant difference at .01 level. Naval and Air Force cadets wanted to work in big cities, but the Army cadets wanted to go to th« border and Police cadets wanted to work in Bangkok. 2.2 In comparison among four forces, it was found that there was a significant difference at .05 level in entering raw scores in academic field. The Naval cadets had higher scores than the other three forces.