Role of Combat Exposure and Insomnia in Student Veterans’ Adaptation to College

Abstract

Student veterans reported better academic and personal-emotional adaptation than civilian students, while civilians reported better social adjustment than veterans. However, follow-up analyses revealed that these effects might be explained by group differences in gender, income, and marital status. Although combat veterans without insomnia had better academic adjustment than noncombat veterans and civilian students, insomnia seemed to have a greater negative effect on combat veterans' academic adjustment relative to civilian students. Furthermore, insomnia mediated the relationship between combat exposure and veterans' personal-emotional adjustment to college.

Unlocking SSM/V Success: Welcoming Student Service Members and Veterans and Supporting SSM/V Experiences

“…We note that TBI and PTSD, rarely exist in isolation in military populations (Moore et al, 2020) and that reports of comorbid disorders are common among SSM/Vs (Morissette et al, 2021). Additionally, SSM/Vs also commonly report symptoms of depression (Schonfeld et al, 2015), insomnia (McGuffin et al, 2019;Rodrigues et al, 2019), and suicidal thoughts and attempts (Rudd et al, 2011).…”

“…In the classroom, their background can be simultaneously beneficial in certain situations and detrimental in others, although much comes down to how sensitive instructors are to SSM/Vs' culture and prior experience (Barry et al, 2014). Military service is also associated with health concerns that do little to help SSM/Vs excel in school (Bryan et al, 2014;Kraus et al, 2017;McGuffin et al, 2019;Morissette et al, 2021). Finally, SSM/Vs are likely to experience enrollment and retention constraints related to their GI Bill funding or ongoing military duties.…”

“…These behavioral health conditions are of particular interest to the SSM/V population as they have been found to negatively impact their academic performance (Bryan et al, 2014;Kraus et al, 2017;McGuffin et al, 2019;Morissette et al, 2021). For instance, SSM/Vs with PTSD have reported trouble learning, studying, and setting and meeting academic goals (Ness et al, 2015).…”

“I Just Don’t Like to Have My Car Marked”: Nuancing Identity Attachments and Belonging in Student Veterans

“…Research examining student veterans' adjustment to college is diverse in scope, adjustment factors, methodology, and conceptual framework. One line of inquiry within this area attempts to uncover challenges in student veterans' adjustment processes, often in consideration of additional risk factors such as deployments or combat exposure (Livingston et al, 2011;McGuffin et al, 2019;Rumann & Hamrick, 2009), trauma (Smith et al, 2017), service-connected disabilities (Flink, 2017;Wagner & Long, 2020), stressor severity (Sullivan et al, 2019), or a combination of physical, mental health, or behavioral outcomes attributable to their military service (Eakman et al, 2019;Ness et al, 2015;Schonfeld et al, 2015). While some of this scholarship considered veterans' academic adjustment (e.g., motivation, achievement, self-regulation, self-efficacy) as the primary domain indicative of the broader adjustment experience (Eakeman et al, 2019;Ness et al, 2015;Wagner & Long, 2020), some researchers assessed adjustment under other domains of functioning including social, emotional, and sense of belonging.…”

“…"Mattering emerged as the strongest predictor of college adjustment… More specifically, mattering mediated the relationships of the social (campus and social connectedness) and cultural (emic view of self-positive and negative) dimensions in predicting college adjustment" (Bodrog et al, 2018, p. 118). From their study with 588 student veterans, McGuffin et al (2019) determined that veterans, combat and noncombat alike, reported lower social adjustment but higher personal-emotional adjustment that civilian students (p. 220), but veteran status did not significantly impact institutional attachment (p. 218). Importantly, however, their findings also revealed that after controlling for additional personal factors, older age, being married, and having a higher income also predicted weaker college adjustment.…”