Psychiatric assessment of female fliers at the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine (USAFSAM).
There were 17 female fliers referred for evaluation to the Neuropsychiatry Branch, Clinical Sciences Division, of the USAF School of Aerospace Medicine, Brooks AFB, TX, between October 1976 and September 1982: five primarily for emotional reasons; seven primarily for somatic disorders and only secondarily for emotional symptoms; two for entry to the Airsickness Rehabilitation/Treatment protocol; and three for routine evaluation in preparation for possible future space flight. This number is too small for any sort of statistical analysis, but one emerging theme has clinical importance. A significant number of male fliers tend to see these female fliers in stereotyped roles--mother, potential sexual partner, little sister, daughter--and then respond to the assigned role rather than to a real person. Whether a woman accepts this projected role as egosyntonic or rejects it as egosyntonic, its existence may affect her real-life role. For example, one woman pilot reported that her instructors seemed to make allowances for her sex by expecting less of her than they did of her male colleagues, "carrying" her along as if she were a little sister. While such role-casting may be carried on subconsciously, its behavioral manifestations are real and may have the potential for affecting flight safety. This study represents an initial approach to the data in this area, and is intended to alert flight surgeons to the implications of such role-casting in the flight environment.
D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011592:Psychology, Military; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D012380:Role