Post-high school military enlistment and long-term well-being
- Lucier-Greer, M., O’Neal, C. W., Peterson, C., Reed-Fitzke, K., & Wickrama, K. A. S. (2023). Post-high school military enlistment and long-term well-being. Emerging Adulthood, 11(1), . https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968221131854
- According to life course theory, individuals’ personal and career trajectories can be shaped by transitions in their roles, statuses, and connections to others. Drawing on this perspective, the current study compared the well-being of young adults who enlisted in the military after high school to those who did not. At baseline (T1), propensity score matching was used to ensure that the two groups were similar in composition (i.e., race, sex, general health parent education) at the starting point, when the sample was an average age of 14.7 years old. 13 years later (T2), the young adults reported on whether or not they had enlisted in the military (n = 576 Service members; n = 576 civilians), their financial well-being, physical health (i.e., blood pressure and body mass index [BMI]), mental health (i.e., stress, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] diagnosis), and their risky lifestyle behaviors (e.g., arrests). Overall, Service members reported less perceived stress and anxiety than civilians, yet they also experienced higher rates of PTSD and worse physical health.
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