Do Military Personnel Feel Excluded and Ignored in Post-Secondary Education

The present study was conducted to investigate whether returning veterans feel ostracized (excluded and ignored) and if they experience its immediate negative impact (reflexive pain response and thwarted basic needs) on university campuses. Additionally, this study was designed to investigate veteran students’ feelings of perceived burdensomeness, and three caveats of student engagement: student faculty engagement, community-based activities, and transformational learning opportunities. Participants in the study were 118 civilian and veteran students at the University of North Florida. All data were collected through a world wide web surveying program that allowed each participant to respond on computers from any location. Both veteran and civilian participants recorded the interactions and feelings they recalled experiencing in the classroom during the month prior to participating in the study. The surveys administered were the Needs Threat Scale, the Numeric Rating Scale (NRS-11), the Wong Baker Faces Pain Rating Scale, the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ), the Student Faculty Engagement (SFE) scale, the Community Based Activities (CBA) scale, and the Transformational Opportunity (TLO) scale along with a demographics questionnaire. Results show that participants in the veteran group reported greater thwarted belongingness than civilian students. Military service was also associated with less engagement in CBAs and TLOs. The association with less engagement in CBAs explained the impact of militarily service on thwarted belongingness.