Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education, Cleveland State University, 2020, College of Education and Human Services

Nearly one million military service members are enrolled in institutions of higher education, 800,000 of whom are using the Post 9/11 GI Bill. These individuals bring a distinct set of interpersonal and intrapersonal characteristics with them to college campuses, yet there is a paucity of research exploring the factors related to their college adjustment. The literature that exists has focused on this population's challenges and pathology. College adjustment is understood as the way in which individuals acclimate to the new environment and culture of academia. Resilience is considered to be a function of personal and environmental characteristics that explain why some people flourish after trauma and others do not. The “healthy warrior effect” suggests that student service members/veterans (SSM/Vs) have lower vulnerability to stress in college because of their maturity and life experiences. Therefore, in this quantitative study, I used a strengths-based, positive psychology perspective to understand the college adjustment of SSM/Vs. I explored the effects of mental health diagnoses on adjustment as mediated by resilience. A final sample of 123 participants was derived from both Amazon's MTURK and 10 universities across the United States. Participants were 18+ years of age, identified as current or former military service members, and were current undergraduate or graduate students. Moderation analysis assessed whether the relationship between resilience and college adjustment differed depending on: 1) SSM/V combat exposure; and 2) military affiliation status (e.g. veteran versus National Guard/Reserve member). Mediation analysis examined whether resilience mediated the relationship between PTSD, depression, and anxiety diagnoses and college adjustment. Support was found for all but one hypothesis. Implications for practice and research as well as the strengths and limitations of the study will be discussed.

Committee: Julia Phillips Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Michael Horvath Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kelly Yu-Hsin Liao Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Counseling Psychology; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Nursing

Introduction: Despite comprehensive fitness standards for those in the U.S. military, service members (SMs) and veterans have similar rates of high Body Mass Index (BMI) and depressive symptoms as civilians. This dissertation explores the relationship between the two conditions in Gulf War and Post-9/11 SMs and veterans compared to civilian peers by building trajectories for the conditions and their interaction. Literature Review: A literature review was conducted to examine high BMI and depressive symptoms among SMs and veterans of recent wars. The Life Course Health Development Model theoretically guided the review. Sixteen primary research studies met inclusion/exclusion criteria: nine studies uncovered heterogeneous relationships between high BMI and depressive symptoms; seven found no relationship. Wide-ranging definitions, measures, and timelines existed across the studies. Most of the veteran-only studies were program evaluations of the Veterans Health Administration's MOVE! program. Since there were no longitudinal studies evaluating the complexity within or between high BMI and depressive symptoms, research is needed to clarify how these conditions relate by comparing SM and veteran health across the life course, a secondary analysis study was conducted. Aim 1 tested for differences in BMI trajectories by veteran status. Aim 2 tested for differences in depressive symptoms trajectories by veteran status. Aim 3 assessed BMI's potential to affect depressive symptoms trajectories differently by veteran status. Methods: This secondary analysis fit multilevel model growth curves to explore BMI and depressive symptoms trajectories. The study sample included the 6,465 non-pregnant participants, 441 SMs and veterans versus 6,024 civilians, present in all waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (“Add Health”). Three iterative aims were tested for differences between group (veteran, civilian) trajectories from adolescence to middle ad (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Laureen Smith (Committee Chair); Sonia Duffy (Committee Member); Jodi Ford (Committee Member); David Melamed (Committee Member) Subjects: Health; Mental Health; Nursing