Student Veterans: Factors Impacting Campus Adjustment
Abstract
Veterans represent a growing part of the student body on college campuses. Yet,
retention rates continue to remain lower among student veterans in comparison to their
civilian peers. A majority of research regarding the student veteran population focuses
solely on the physical and mental challenges they face as they transition into student
life. However, limited research has explored the relationship experiential avoidance
and student engagement has on psychosocial functioning and reintegration difficulties,
leaving a gap in universities empirical knowledge about how to successfully meet
student veteran needs. Therefore, the current study examined the relationships
between factors such as traumatic exposure, perceived social support, psychological
flexibility and functioning, and student engagement on college campus. The
theoretical lens of experiential avoidance was utilized to examine the function of the
behaviors studied.