S'engager volontairement dans l'armée vs. ne pas servir
Si vous agissez
S'engager dans l'armée
21%
Si vous n’agissez pas
Ne pas servir dans l'armée
21%
Pourcentage de personnes qui regrettent ensuite chaque choix. Les barres et le registre complet s’affichent ci-dessous.
Mode de vie
Dernière révision 2026-05-09
Qualité des preuves 3.75/5
Score d’évaluation en huit dimensions selon la
grille de qualité
. Chaque dimension notée de 1 à 5.
D1 Vérification des sources
4/5
D2 Autorité et indépendance des sources
4/5
D3 Précision du taux de regret
1/5
D4 Comparabilité des sources
2/5
D5 Motif de Gilovich
5/5
D6 Qualité de la prose
5/5
D7 Complétude des réserves
5/5
D8 Qualité de l’échantillon
4/5
Moyenne3.75/5
Données de substitution — aucune enquête directe sur les regrets n'existe pour cette décision. Les taux sont dérivés des scores de satisfaction et des obstacles d'accès plutôt que de questions portant directement sur les regrets. Voir les mises en garde ci-dessous.
Regret d'action
S'engager dans l'armée
21%
21% des anciens combattants disent qu'ils ne referaient pas leur service militaire (c.-à-d. taux de regret implicite issu de l'enquête DAV 2015)
Vétérans américains à travers toutes les générations, WWII à l'ère post-11 septembre
rétrospective, pas de calendrier fixe
Regret d'inaction
Ne pas servir dans l'armée
21%
Aucune estimation fiable — aucune enquête ne mesure le regret chez les non-anciens combattants qui ont envisagé de servir sans le faire ; affiché au même niveau que le côté action plutôt que comme un taux mesuré
Adultes civils américains ayant envisagé mais n'ayant pas rejoint le service militaire (aucune enquête directe disponible)
rétrospective, pas de calendrier fixe
% regrettent ce choix
S'engager dans l'arméeNe pas servir dans l'armée
21%21%
balanced — À peu près équilibré — les deux choix entraînent un regret similaire.
Décisions associées
Décisions sémantiquement similaires — même terrain, compromis différents.
Prendre une année de césureEntrer directement à l'université
10%31%
L'inaction domine
Regret d'inaction 3.1× plus élevé
The DAV Veterans Pulse Survey of 2015, the largest multi-generational survey of US veterans (n = 1,701, nationally representative of approximately 22 million veterans from WWII through post-9/11 eras), found that 79% would, if they had to do it over, repeat their military service. The implied action-side rate of approximately 21% (those who would not or are uncertain whether they would repeat) is the primary metric for this entry. Pew Research’s 2011 survey of 1,853 veterans, including 712 post-9/11 veterans, found that 96% were proud of their service, 82% said their service helped them appreciate life more, 93% said it helped them mature, and 90% said it taught them to work with others. The two surveys converge on a picture of low to moderate action regret, with pride nearly universal and the “would serve again” rate consistently above 75%.
The inaction side has no direct survey data, so it carries no reliable regret estimate. No national survey was identified that asks non-veteran civilians whether they regret not serving in the military, and this gap in the literature is notable. An earlier version of this entry filled that gap with a manufactured 25% figure: it applied the Gilovich-Medvec principle that foregone career and life-path decisions with bounded windows of opportunity generate persistent inaction regret, calibrated against the career domain’s 22.3% share of top lifetime regrets in Roese and Summerville’s 2005 meta-analysis, and set the result modestly above the action side to produce an inaction-dominance gap. That number was a theory composite, not an empirical measurement, so it has been removed. Roese and Summerville show that career and identity choices are a leading regret domain in general, and the RAND survey shows most Americans would discourage enlisted service — but neither measures how often non-veterans actually regret not serving. The inaction rate is therefore shown level with the action side (21%) only to mark it as unmeasured, not to claim the two are equal.
Only the action side carries a measured rate, and even it carries substantial uncertainty. The action side benefits from two large nationally representative samples with near-direct “would serve again” questions, but survivorship bias is significant: veterans who developed severe PTSD or service-related disabilities are under-represented in voluntary panels, and active-duty satisfaction has declined sharply since 2019 (Blue Star Families found only 32% of active-duty families would recommend service in 2023, down from 55% in 2016), suggesting the 21% action regret may understate more recent cohorts. This entry documents the state of the evidence rather than a resolved bilateral comparison: strong action-side data, no inaction-side survey, and therefore no honest basis for declaring which side regrets more. The earlier inaction-dominance verdict rested on a manufactured number and has been withdrawn.
Sources : action
Registre des sources
Chaque chiffre ci-dessous correspond à ce que la source a rapporté, avec la citation textuelle sur laquelle nous nous sommes appuyés et la méthode de calcul. Cliquez sur un lien pour vérifier directement.
[1]DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Veterans Pulse Survey via PR Newswire — Landmark Survey Finds Veterans of All Generations Would Repeat their Military Service, But Don't Feel Supported by Government and the American Public
Étude primaire
79% of veterans across all generations (WWII through post-9/11) said they would, if they had to do it all over again, repeat their military service.
Extrait
“"Nearly eight in 10 would, if they had to do it all over again, repeat their service. Almost 8 out of 10 veterans say they would repeat their military service, but only half would encourage their sons and one-third would encourage their daughters to serve."
”
Données source de
2015-11-10
Consulté le
2026-05-09
Calcul
DAV Veterans Pulse Survey, conducted by global research firm GfK using KnowledgePanel. The survey was completed by 1,701 veterans, nationally representative of America's then approximately 22 million veterans, spanning WWII through post-9/11 eras. The 79% "would repeat" figure implies an action regret rate of approximately 21% (the share who would not or are uncertain whether they would repeat their service). The survey asked directly about whether veterans would make the same choice again, making it a near-direct regret measure. Note: "would not repeat" is not identical to "regrets joining" — some who would not repeat may still view the service as valuable but would not recommend it to others, or are uncertain. The 21% is therefore a plausible upper bound on the action regret rate, not a confirmed regret prevalence.
[2]Pew Research Center — Chapter 1: Overview — War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era
Étude primaire
96% of post-9/11 veterans say they are proud of their service; 82% say their military service helped them appreciate life more; 74% say it helped them get ahead in life.
Extrait
“"Post-9/11 veterans are proud of their service (96%), appreciate life more (82%) and believe that their military service has helped them get ahead in life (74%). Large majorities say that serving in the military has been either very or fairly useful in helping them become more mature (93%); gain self-confidence (90%); learn to work with other people (90%); and prepare for a job or career (72%)."
”
Données source de
2011-10-05
Consulté le
2026-07-07
Calcul
Pew Research Center "War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era" survey of 1,853 veterans (including 712 who served after 9/11), Chapter 1: Overview (corrected from Chapter 2, previously mis-cited here -- Chapter 2 covers war-policy attitudes and does not contain these figures). The 96% pride rate is not a regret rate; it measures emotional response to service, not whether veterans would make the same choice again. Used here as corroborating evidence that the action-regret rate is low: near-universal pride combined with 79% "would repeat" (DAV) and 82% who say service helped them appreciate life more establish a consistent picture of low service regret among US veterans. (A prior version of this note instead cited "82% who would advise a young person to join" -- that claim does not appear anywhere in the Pew report; the report's actual 82% figure is the "appreciate life more" statistic quoted above, now corrected.) The 4% who are not proud provides a directional lower bound on regret.
Sources : inaction
Registre des sources
Chaque chiffre ci-dessous correspond à ce que la source a rapporté, avec la citation textuelle sur laquelle nous nous sommes appuyés et la méthode de calcul. Cliquez sur un lien pour vérifier directement.
[1]RAND Corporation — What Americans Think About Veterans and Military Service: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey
Source de référence
54% of Americans would discourage a young person from enlisting as an enlisted service member, but 61% would encourage service via ROTC or a service academy. The split suggests the path to service matters more than service itself.
Extrait
“"A majority (54.4 percent) would discourage a young person close to them from enlisting in the military. A majority (61.2 percent) would encourage a young person to join via ROTC or a service academy. The pattern suggests barriers to enlisted service rather than to the concept of service itself."
”
Données source de
2023-12-14
Consulté le
2026-05-09
Calcul
RAND RRA1363-7, nationally representative American Life Panel surveys (February and June 2022). The 54.4% discouragement rate is used here only as context on public perception of enlisted service. It is NOT a regret rate for non-veterans: it measures what adults would advise a young person, not whether they themselves regret not serving. No published survey directly asks non-veterans "do you regret not joining the military?" Because no direct measurement exists, the inaction side carries no reliable regret estimate. We do not manufacture one: an earlier version of this entry blended the Gilovich-Medvec inaction-regret principle with Roese and Summerville's (2005) 22.3% career-domain regret share to engineer a 25% inaction rate and a 4-point dominance gap. That composite was not a measured value and has been removed. The inaction rate is now shown level with the action side (0.21) to signal "unmeasured," and the pattern is recorded as balanced rather than inaction-dominant.
[2]Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (APA) — What We Regret Most ... and Why↗ 13 other entries
Revue par les pairs
Career accounts for 22.3% of top lifetime regrets in a meta-analysis of 11 regret-ranking datasets; people most regret decisions in domains where they see the largest missed opportunities for change and growth.
Extrait
“"Life regrets are a reflection of where in life people see opportunity, that is, where they see the most tangible prospects for change, growth, and renewal."
”
Données source de
2005-09-01
Consulté le
2026-05-09
Calcul
Roese and Summerville (2005) meta-analysis of 11 regret-ranking studies. Career ranks second among lifetime regret domains (22.3%), after education (32.2%). This share describes the relative ranking of regret DOMAINS in the general population; it does not measure how many non-veterans regret not serving, and Roese and Summerville never study military service. It is cited here only to show that career/identity choices are a leading regret domain in theory — not as a basis for any specific inaction-regret percentage. The prior version of this entry mis-used the 22.3% figure (plus the Gilovich-Medvec inaction-dominance principle) to back-derive a 25% inaction rate; that derivation was unsupported and has been removed. The inaction side now carries no reliable estimate.
Réserves
LE CÔTÉ INACTION N'A AUCUNE ENQUÊTE DIRECTE. Le 21% côté action est dérivé comme le complément du chiffre « referaient leur service » de la DAV Veterans Pulse Survey 2015 (79% referaient, impliquant ~21% qui ne referaient pas ou sont incertains). « Ne referaient pas » n'est pas identique à « regrettent de s'être engagés » — cela inclut ceux qui sont incertains ou qui considèrent le choix comme dépendant du contexte. La conclusion de Pew 2011 selon laquelle 96% des anciens combattants de l'après-11 septembre sont fiers de leur service converge avec le chiffre de la DAV pour établir un profil de regret d'action faible à modéré. Les deux enquêtes sont sujettes à un biais de survie : les anciens combattants ayant développé un TSPT sévère ou ayant refusé de participer sont sous-représentés dans les panels volontaires. La satisfaction en service actif décline depuis 2019 (Blue Star Families MFLS : 55% recommandent le service en 2016 vs 32% en 2023), de sorte que le regret d'action de 21% peut sous-estimer le regret dans les cohortes plus récentes. LE CÔTÉ INACTION N'A AUCUNE ESTIMATION FIABLE : aucune enquête nationale n'a été trouvée qui demande directement aux non-anciens combattants s'ils regrettent de ne pas avoir servi. Une version antérieure de cette entrée présentait un taux d'inaction de 25% et un écart de dominance de l'inaction de 4 points ; ce chiffre était fabriqué en combinant le principe de regret d'inaction de Gilovich-Medvec avec la part de regret dans le domaine de la carrière de Roese et Summerville, et il a été retiré parce qu'il n'a jamais été mesuré. Le taux d'inaction est désormais affiché au même niveau que le côté action (0.21) uniquement pour signaler qu'il n'est pas mesuré, et non pour affirmer que les deux sont réellement égaux ; les lecteurs doivent traiter le côté inaction comme inconnu. Cette entrée ne peut être considérée comme une paire de regret bilatérale au sens habituel : seul le côté action est mesuré ; le côté inaction ne l'est pas. Le contexte culturel du service militaire varie énormément : l'analyse s'applique à l'armée américaine de volontaires, et non aux armées de conscrits ou au service en temps de guerre où l'ensemble des choix n'est pas volontaire.
