People Outlook on Life

Attending college can be challenging for students and even more for veterans returning from deployments on military duty. When returning to college, student veterans’ psychological well being and outlook on life may make them feel uneasy. College professors and administrators need to understand that this special population has different needs than that of traditional college students. It has been found that student veterans report feeling alienated compared to other college students due to their military service, but this could be improved with seminars to educate the general public (Rumann, Rivera, & Hernandez, 2011). The purpose of the present study is to examine the psychological well being and mood state of traditional college students, student veterans that have deployed to combat zones, and military personnel that have not deployed. Participants (n=100) will consist of members of combat and military student veterans organizations, as well as traditional students, all recruited through social media (e.g. Facebook). Participants will be sent an email link asking them to fill out an online questionnaire using SurveyMonkey.com. The survey consists of 7 items measuring psychological well being (Choi, DiNitto & Kim, 2014), 4 items measuring positive and negative affect (Choi, DiNitto & Kim, 2014), and 9 demographic questions regarding age, gender, ethnicity, grade level, and GPA. It is hypothesized that a) traditional students and non-combat student veterans will have a higher psychological well-being than student veterans that have been deployed to a combat zone, b) female veterans will score higher on psychological well-being than male student veterans, and c) the student veterans with higher psychological well being will have a more positive affect than those with lower psychological well being. Data collection for this study will occur in February and March 201