Soldier, Civilian, Student: Understanding the Relationship between Gender, Engagement, and Self-Identity of College Student Veterans

Abstract

Student engagement is a recognized factor within higher education when understanding student satisfaction, retention, and persistence. The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has been used across the nation since 2000 to measure the engagement behaviors of first year and fourth-year students at four-year institutions. The results of the study provide context for campuses to adapt their policies and practices to continue to support their students as well as providing a national baseline for the student experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the engagement behaviors of fourth-year student veterans to determine if gender or any of the five benchmarks of engagement from the NSSE: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, enriching educational experiences, and supportive campus environment predicts the self-reported growth in the self-identity. The benchmarks and gender were regressed against the self-reported outcome of understanding yourself. Results indicated that gender was significant and that for male veterans academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, and a supportive campus environment were predictors of growth of self-identity. The results also indicated that for women veterans academic challenge, enriching educational experiences, and a supportive campus environment were predictors of growth of self-identity. Neither group showed that active and collaborative learning predicts growth of self-identity. On average, women veterans reported having a higher sense of self than their male veteran peers within the 2012 NSSE sample.