The keys to success: personality traits and mental strategies are associated with success indicators in special forces selection

Introduction The selection process for the German Armed Forces Special Forces places extreme physical and psychological demands on candidates. The aim of this study was to examine associations between psychological traits and indicators of success in the multi-stage potential assessment procedure (PFV) and to explore individual resources and mental strategies reported by applicants under high stress. Specifically, we examined whether (H1) conscientiousness and cognitive performance are associated with PFV performance, (H2) successful applicants report self-regulation strategies (e.g., goal setting, self-talk, mental visualization, arousal control) and psychological protective factors (e.g., perseverance/grit, optimism, value-based meaning orientation) more frequently, and (H3) resilience is associated with marksmanship performance during training. Methodology A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was applied. In the quantitative part, a secondary analysis of psychological PFV data (N = confidential) was carried out. Associations between personality traits and success indicators (internal PFV ranking; external shooting performance) were examined using Spearman rank correlations. In the qualitative part, guided interviews with applicants (N = confidential) were analyzed using qualitative content analysis following a deductive–inductive approach. Results In line with H1, conscientiousness (r = −.74, p <.05) and cognitive performance (r = −.72, p <.05) showed significant associations with better PFV performance. In line with H3, resilience was significantly associated with better shooting performance during training (r = .70, p <.05). The qualitative analysis revealed recurring self-regulation strategies and psychological protective factors that were descriptively reported more frequently by successful participants. Conclusion The findings indicate that specific personality traits and self-regulation-related resources are associated with performance-related indicators within the PFV context. The integration of quantitative and qualitative results provides exploratory insights relevant for psychological assessment and mental preparation in a high-performance military setting. Given the study design, conclusions regarding prediction or causality are not warranted; future longitudinal studies with larger samples are needed to examine robustness, generalizability, and temporal stability of the observed associations.