Abstract
This study examined college adjustment for 157 student service members/veterans’ (SSM/V) college adjustment using a psychosociocultural framework to explore psychological (stress), social (connection and university mattering), and cultural (view of self) dimensions. A series of mediation analyses revealed that mattering fully mediated the relationships of social and campus connectedness and negative view of self with college adjustment, respectively. Mattering also partially-mediated the relationship of positive view of self and college adjustment. Although those SSM/V who had been deployed to a combat zone held more negative views of self and reported decreased social connectedness than those who had not, deployment to a combat zone did not moderate the relationships of connection (social and campus) and view of self (positive and negative) with college adjustment. The study’s findings direct student service personnel to provide emic support and programming to support SSM/Vs’ educational experiences and college adjustment.
Highlights
On college and university campuses across the nation, student service members or students who are veterans (SSM/V) are a growing student population with unique needs (Radford, 2009), and the research to better understand and serve this student group continues to evolve. Barry, Whiteman, and Wadsworth (2014), identified service members/veterans’ (SSM/V) to include former and current service members
Findings revealed that a higher sense of mattering, social and campus connections, and positive notion of self in school given military background was significantly related to an increased sense of college adjustment
We explored the differences in and relationships of stress, mattering, connectedness, and view of self in relationship to college adjustment
Summary
On college and university campuses across the nation, student service members or students who are veterans (SSM/V) are a growing student population with unique needs (Radford, 2009), and the research to better understand and serve this student group continues to evolve. Barry, Whiteman, and Wadsworth (2014), identified SSM/V to include former (veteran) and current (active duty, reserve, and National Guard) service members. The Department of Veterans Administration (2016) predicts a Post-9/11 veteran population of almost 3.5 million by 2019, and over one million militaryaffiliated individuals are applying the GI Bill to access higher education (Department of Veteran Affairs, 2013). These educational benefits are helpful, there is question as to whether finances alone are adequate for educational adjustment and/or success if SSM/V are unable or inadequately supported in other ways (Bailey, Drury, & Randall, 2017).
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