| Description |
Nearly 1,230,000 student veterans received Department of Veteran Affairs college benefits within the United States in 2014, many of them struggling with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While PTSD has been linked to lower academic performance, the mechanism behind the relationship remains unclear and no research has demonstrably broken it down. Various research studies have found links that suggest that some symptoms of PTSD may have an effect on academic performance; for instance, aggression has been found to affect attention and be associated with poor academic performance, while sleep difficulties negatively impact preparation for exams, memory consolidation, encoding, and stress levels. The present study examined PTSD and academic performance in 348 student veterans enrolled in universities across the country. Results of the study showed 51.3% of participants screened likely for PTSD. After controlling for age, PTSD was not found to be a significant predictor of academic performance. However, higher levels of reexperiencing symptoms (unwanted and upsetting memories, nightmares, flashbacks, cued emotional distress, and cued physical reactivity), as a cluster, were found to be moderate to strong predictors of lower GPA ( and were significantly better predictors than any of the other PTSD symptom clusters. These findings have a variety of implications along administrative, educational, and clinical domains. |
