Date

12-19-2024

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Russell G. Yocum

Keywords

military-connected student, post-secondary education, stress, resilience

Disciplines

Education

Abstract

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the influence that lifelong stressors had on the lived experiences of adult military-connected students in U.S. post-secondary educational institutions. Military-connected students were defined as the adult children or step-children of military members who attended a minimum of four years in primary school while their parent was on active duty and attended both high school and post-secondary school while their parent(s) were either active duty or retired. The theory guiding this was Pearlin’s stress process, which explains the interaction among and between military-connected students’ (MCS’) stressors, stress mediators, and the resultant residual stress. The central research question was, what were the lived experiences of adult military-connected students while they attended post-secondary education? I conducted a transcendental phenomenological study that collected data from 13 participants via individual interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires of adult military-connected students. The data collection plan triangulated the information from participant interviews, focus groups, and questionnaires. The data were manually examined using Moustakas’ eight-step data analysis methodology. Two key findings were that military life experiences influenced MCS well beyond their military parent’s time in the service and influenced their college experiences and that participants with family support, rebuilt support networks, and adaptive coping mechanisms had more success overcoming military-related stressors than those without well-developed stress mitigators.

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