A study of military personnel's preparation for transition from military to civilian life.

摘要

This quantitative survey study investigated factors that contributed to the successful transition of military personnel from military to civilian life. The dependent variables were defined as the self-perceived ratings assigned by the veterans to their knowledge of, attitude toward, and use of resources that were available to them to assist in transitioning from military to civilian life, and their overall perception of their preparedness to transition to civilian life. The literature review identified veterans' preparedness for transition, their knowledge base, and their attitudes as factors playing vital roles in their experiences and difficulties in successfully transitioning from military to civilian life. These factors, which were dependent variables in this study, were found to be different and distinguishable based upon the service length of the veteran. For the purpose of this study, the independent variable, length of service, was categorized as career soldiers (≥ 20 years of service) and noncareer soldiers (< 20 years of service). This study proposed to test the assumption that there were statistically significant differences between career and noncareer personnel in their perceptions of their preparedness for transitioning from military service and in their knowledge of resources available to assist in their transitions and their attitudes toward the use of those resources. The hypotheses were tested using SPSS 21 to run a series of independent t tests. No statistically significant differences were found between the two groups on the dependent variables studied.