Hope and social support as moderators of the impact of academic and deployment stress on the academic achievement of student-veterans

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Despite the fact that academic achievement in higher education has been of interest to psychological and educational researchers for decades, we know very little about the experience of the nearly two-million veterans attending college (DiRamio, Ackerman, & Mitchell, 2008; Robbins et al., 2004). In the current study, 254 student-veterans attending 4-year institutions of higher education across the United States completed the Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1991), Student-Life Stress Inventory (Gadzella, Fullwood, & Ginther, 1991), Social Provisions Scale (Cutrona & Russell, 1987), and a demographic questionnaire to determine the impact of academic and combat-related stress on academic achievement, as well as the moderating affects of hope and social support. No direct relationships between academic or combat-related stress and academic achievement were detected. However, the results indicated hope was a significant predictor of academic achievement. Hope was also positively correlated with social support and negatively correlated with academic stress. Social support was negatively correlated with academic stress. Other significant findings are reported in the results section.