Date of Award

1-1-2020

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology

Program

Counseling Psychology

Content Description

1 online resource (vi, 64 pages) : 1 illustration,

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Jessica L Martin

Committee Members

Lisa McAndrew

Keywords

adjustment to college, alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, social support, stress-buffering hypothesis, student veterans, Veterans, Adjustment (Psychology), College-student veterans

Subject Categories

Counseling Psychology

Abstract

U.S. Military veterans are increasingly represented on college campuses nationwide and, like their civilian peers, appear to be at risk for heavy alcohol use and its related problems. Qualitative research indicates that the college experience is fraught for many student veterans, owing to difficulty with adjustment to the social, academic, or emotional challenges unique to a higher education setting. Adjustment to college appears to be a risk factor for alcohol-related problems in civilian college students, but the extent to which this relation generalizes to student veterans is unknown. The current study sought to (1) determine the unique effects of alcohol use and adjustment to college on alcohol-related problems in a student veteran sample, and (2) test the stress-buffering effect of social support on the relation of adjustment to college and alcohol-related problems. Data from a national sample of 236 student veterans from two and four year colleges indicated that alcohol-related problems among student veterans were uniquely predicted by both their alcohol use and adjustment to college. Unexpectedly, social support did not moderate the relationship between adjustment to college and alcohol-related problems, nor did it uniquely predict alcohol-related problems. Implications for alcohol-related programming and research with student veterans are discussed.

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