"What the @%* is wrong with him?!?!?"

Many times, a male child may be “sent off to military school”.  I became a military officer through advancements and finally receiving a direct commission, while others had military school experience. Throughout my time in the military, I noticed a significant difference between these two types of officers, in addition to those who had attended military preparatory schools. Usually those that attended military preparatory schools were a bit difficult to deal with.  Donald Trump is among those who were sent to military school and I often think about his personality traits.  Although Harms, Spain and Hannah (n.d.) focused their study on military academy recruits, I am left to wonder about the impact of sending an even younger, still-developing adolescent into the same environment and the potential long-term impact.  

Harms et al (n.d.) noted that researchers have become interested in character flaws as predicting factors of leader performance in addition to the effectiveness of leader development on these individuals.  I found their research a very interesting read. Notably they focused on subclinical personality traits (those that are in the middle ground between “normal” and “clinical”) measured against the Big Five personality traits.  Using the Hogan Development Survey to identify traits that have short-term advantages, but also long-term negative impacts, they devised 11 traits.  I have earmarked this article for future full review, but did note the “Skeptical” trait as exhibiting behaviors such as paranoia, having a chip on the shoulder, cynicism, distrust, fault-finding, and easily-angered.   These traits have been identified as precursors to leadership failures.  Most shocking is the fact that these individuals, who possess characteristics of narcissism, are often initially selected as leaders, and deemed as “leader-like”.   In the long-term they are often rejected because of their arrogance and lack of regard for the opinions and interest of others.  

Again, I wonder if this is the result of negative personality traits being developed as an adolescent placed in an institutional environment and separated from their parents at a developmental age?  We may never know, but we are left with the question "What the @%* is wrong with him?!?!?"

Reference

Harms, P., Spain, S., & Hannah, S. (n.d). Leader development and the dark side of personality. Leadership Quarterly, 22(3), 495-509