Exploring the Salience of Veteran Identity for US College Students

Abstract: This descriptive qualitative study examined the factors that inform veteran identity saliency among a compositionally diverse group of 15 student veterans attending a predominantly white, land-grant, research institution in the Midwest region of the US. Our findings suggest six factors interact with each other in a way that may strengthen or weaken veteran identity saliency: (a) fulfilling their duty, (b) multiple social identities, (c) sociopolitical context when service ended, (d) family connection to military, (e) connectedness to military community, and (f) duration of service.