The Marine Corps has long held concerns that integrating women into combat units could erode morale in all-male platoons and lead to increased sexual tension that would undermine fighting capability. But a Marine Corps study made public by a women’s advocacy group this week found that after months of testing mixed-gender combat units, troops reported morale equal to that of all-male groups and higher than noncombat integrated groups.

In addition, the study found sexual assault levels no higher than in the Marines as a whole.

Men and women in a test group of about 400 Marines “feel a strong sense of belonging to the military, even more so when compared to other Marines of the operating forces,” the study found.

The 1,000-page study, known as the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, was prompted by a mandate from the Obama administration to integrate women into all combat jobs by 2016 or justify exemptions.

In September, the Marine Corps released a four-page summary of the study that said female Marines were slower, less accurate with weapons and had more injuries than men.