Connecting Concepts of Self-Efficacy, Engaged Scholarship, and Civic Responsibility Among Student-Veterans

Abstract

An estimated 23 million veterans lived in the United States in 2013, when the U.S. spent approximately $99 billion on veterans' benefits, $4.4 billion of which funded education and vocational rehabilitation. This denotes increased presence of combat student-veterans in colleges, which signifies a growing need to understand their educational experiences. Research connects high self-efficacy and academic achievement. This study aimed for a deeper understanding of the educational experiences of combat student-veterans who had achieved academic degrees following deployment in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Qualitative methodology was used as a source of in-depth exploration to identify conditions enhancing combat student-veterans' motivation in the college classroom. Using Yin's multiple-case-study research design, information was gathered from nine individual combat student-veteran perspectives. Findings indicated that mastery experience, vicarious experience and social persuasion were major sources of self-efficacy among student-veterans.