Biographical information was generated from retrospective lifehistory essays completed in the fall of 1986 by first-year students at the U.S. Naval Academy. Essays were targeted to aspects of four generic life experiences (individual accomplishments, group accomplishments, disappointing situations, and stressful situations) that might reflect the processes or outcomes of antecedent developmental episodes. Essays were coded to generate biodata items, which were then given to 917 midshipmen

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... ng the Naval Academy in the summer of 1987. Scales were developed that predicted criteria of military performance, academic performance, and peer ratings of leadership in validation and cross-validation samples. Implications for item development and biodata construct validity are discussed.