Student Service Members/Veterans Participating in Higher Education: What We Know to Date

T ogether with the only published systematic review on student service members/veterans in higher education, the data-based studies outlined herein represent the collective peer-reviewed evidence base to guide the decisions of college health policy makers, practitioners, and researchers. Throughout this special issue you’ll note that the term student service member/veteran is adopted and employed. This was deliberate and meant to account for the limitations associated with the heterogeneous range of terms, such as “student veterans” and “military undergraduates,” previous investigations have utilized. For example, the term student veteran excludes those still associated with the military (eg, Reservist or National Guard) given that the designation veteran is applied to those who have completed their tenure and active role in the military. Additionally, use of the term undergraduate implies active military personnel and veterans aren’t pursuing advanced degrees. Given these inadequate, unrepresentative terms, the work in this special issue aligns with other studies that utilize the term student service members/veterans (SSM/V) to characterize military personnel—active, inactive, or retired—participating in higher education. I hope one small outcome of this special issue will be to unify researchers and practitioners in the use of their terminology. Taken together, the work included in this special issue dedicated to SSM/V highlights 2 key themes: (1) SSM/V need to perceive and receive social support, especially from other military-affiliated peers; and (2) SSM/V are experiencing significant psychiatric symptoms, which in turn, could impact their health, functioning, and academic achievement. Similar to prior research, the work herein documents perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others as positively influencing academic adjustment. For instance, Ness et al assert having more positive relationships (ie, greater satisfaction with and quality of interpersonal relationships) moderated the relationship between posttraumatic stress symptoms and avoidance motivation. Moreover, perceived support received in a war zone from one’s military unit also positively influenced academic adjustment among SSM/V. Given that SSM/V feel that they are “different” from their civilian counterparts, and are more likely to feel supported by their fellow SSM/ V, it is not surprising that the influence of perceived social support from one’s military unit was 5 times more influential than perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others. Considering 1 out of every 3 persons deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) will experience posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury, or a major depressive disorder/symptoms, it is not surprising that many of the articles within this special issue focus on the mental health of SSM/V. In particular, generalized anxiety, experiencing depressive symptoms, and the presence of posttraumatic stress symptoms had a direct negative effect on the academic adjustment of SSM/V. Compared with their civilian peers, SSM/V exhibit a higher likelihood of selfharm, yet rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors generally mirror those documented among civilian samples. SSM/V identifying as a sexual minority (lesbian, gay, or unsure) exhibited significantly greater rates of mental health symptoms (eg, feeling hopeless, exhausted, overwhelming anxiety) and personal stressors (academic, family, and social relationships). Similar to previous investigations, hazardous duty, such as exposure to combat-related trauma, was positively associated with Dr Barry is with the Department of Health & Kinesiology at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and an executive editor of the Journal of American College Health. Copyright 2015 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC