Student Veterans' Trauma Exposure and Academic Success: A Moderated Mediation Model
Open AccessAbstractThere are an estimated two million veterans returning from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) and many are expected to attend higher education institutions as troops return home and take advantage of the available education benefits. Whether college campuses are ready for this influx has been a subject of much discussion and debate, but not of substantial quantitative research. In general, student veterans have less academic success, reflected in lower grade point averages (GPAs), than civilian students. One explanation might be that given their widespread exposure to traumatic events, student veterans may develop trauma-related psychopathology, leading to decreased academic success. Thus, this study tested the hypothesis that psychopathology (anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms) would mediate the relationship between past trauma exposure and academic success (operationalized as GPA and academic satisfaction) in student veterans. While other studies have shown the mediating effect of mental health on academic success, it has not been tested in this population. Furthermore, in order to explain variability in outcomes among veterans, it was hypothesized that self-efficacy would moderate the proposed mediation model; specifically, that coping self-efficacy would moderate the relationship between trauma exposure and mental health symptoms, and academic self-efficacy would moderate the relationship between psychopathology and academic outcomes. Participants (N = 133 student veterans) completed online surveys on Qualtrics. The proposed model was partially supported for academic satisfaction but not for GPA. Specifically, coping self-efficacy was a significant moderator of the link between exposure to trauma and mental health symptoms. In other words, mental health symptoms mediate the relationship between trauma exposure and academic satisfaction, particularly when coping self-efficacy levels are low. Thus, there is evidence that coping self-efficacy is an important component of veterans’ academic success.
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