Abstract

The article examines the influence of different forms of the military identity of veterans on the degree of their social adaptation. We define “military identity” as a result of the social identity of a service(wo)man with the military due to the internalization of values and norms adopted in the military sphere. A “veteran” is a service(wo)man who served in the army, participated in combat operations, and was demobilized in connection with the end of the term of service or for health reasons, regardless of the types of military forces and military service. We have used a sociological method of measuring the stable, situational, and unformed types of veterans’ military identity based on the following criteria: social identification, the strength of connection with the army, biographical importance of military service, perception of the army as a family, recognition of the individual in the army, existential assessment of military service, the importance of military practices after demobilization, social contacts with former service(wo)men, the positive assessment of the military culture of obedience/discipline. We have studied the influence of the following factors – duration of staying in the combat zone, conscription age, motivation to join the army, marital status, and traumatic combat experience – on the formation of military identity. According to the quota sample, the results of the study “Military identity and social adaptation of Ukrainian veterans” are presented; 400 veterans (n = 400) were interviewed according to the quota sample. We found out that veterans with a stable military identity mainly had a low level of social adaptability to the civilian life; veterans with a situational form of military identity mostly had a medium level of social adaptability; veterans with an unformed type of military identity were the most adapted to the civilian life.

Highlights

  • INFLUENCE OF MILITARY IDENTITY ON SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF UKRAINIAN VETERANSThe article examines the influence of different forms of the military identity of veterans on the degree of their social adaptation

  • The advantage of our sociological methodology for measuring military identity is that it allows identifying different types of MI of veterans based on the following criteria: social identification, the strength of connection with the army, biographical importance of military service, perception of the army as a family, recognition of the individual in the army, existential assessment of military service, the importance of military practices after demobilization, social contacts with former service(wo)men, the positive assessment of the military culture of obedience/discipline

  • Four hypotheses were proposed in our study: H1: Low level of military identity among veterans is associated with the high level of their social adaptation to civilian life

Read more

Summary

INFLUENCE OF MILITARY IDENTITY ON SOCIAL ADAPTATION OF UKRAINIAN VETERANS

The article examines the influence of different forms of the military identity of veterans on the degree of their social adaptation. We have used a sociological method of measuring the stable, situational, and unformed types of veterans’ military identity based on the following criteria: social identification, the strength of connection with the army, biographical importance of military service, perception of the army as a family, recognition of the individual in the army, existential assessment of military service, the importance of military practices after demobilization, social contacts with former service(wo)men, the positive assessment of the military culture of obedience/discipline. According to the quota sample, the results of the study “Military identity and social adaptation of Ukrainian veterans” are presented; 400 veterans (n = 400) were interviewed according to the quota sample.

ВПЛИВ МІЛІТАРНОЇ ІДЕНТИЧНОСТІ НА СОЦІАЛЬНУ АДАПТАЦІЮ УКРАЇНСЬКИХ ВЕТЕРАНІВ
Influence of military identity on social adaptation of Ukrainian veterans
Stable MI
Situational MI
Unformed MI
Number of respondents
Have not participated
More than once
Yes Stable
Degree of social adaptation
Difficult to answer
In Ukraine
Findings
Conclusions
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call