Children of war: Preparing military dependents for higher education by providing comprehensive, focused support to improve education outcomes

ABSTRACT

Since 2001, over two million children have experienced having one or both of their parents deployed (Tunac de Pedro et al., 2018). There is significant research that shows that "military children experience tremendous psychological strain as a result of stressful military related life events" (Tunac de Pedro et al., 2011, p. 567). The research that currently exists focuses on childhood experience and intervention at the K-12 level. The research on best practices for supporting military children presented herein could form the foundation of how colleges and universities can provide similar support to military dependents in higher education.This study focused on supporting the children of military service members in higher education by developing students' self-advocacy and providing academic support and mentoring for these students while they were concurrently enrolled in high school and college. The intent of the interventions discussed in this study was to provide those students with the tools they need to successfully navigate veteran-focused resources on college campuses and to self-advocate for the resources they need to be successful. The findings presented in this study provide the foundation for recommendations for further research and intervention. The analysis and conclusions are limited due to the framework of the intervention which was exacerbated by COVID-19.While this study may not have been conducted across a broad institutional manner, the findings demonstrate that implementing a course curriculum and providing focused interventions show that student success is related to focused intervention and a student's feelings of validation. This study further shows that students who are military dependents have a clear sense of that identity and what it means to themselves and to their community. I have argued throughout this study that there needs to be focused attention on military dependents in higher education. Even with the end of America's longest war, there is still a generation of young people whose lives are marked by their parent's sacrifice and service. The very least that we can do is to make every effort to validate these student's experiences and to support them as they pursue their academic goals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)