Student and Veteran Identification: The Influence of Microlevel, Mesolevel, and Mesolevel Structures on Complementary Identities

• In Event: 30260 - Joint Roundtables: Section on Social Psychology and Section on Sociology of Emotions
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 6: Social Psychology of Education

Abstract

How do multiple types of social context influence identification with one or several relevant identities? Previous research in IT suggests that the meanings of less salient or prominent identities may be discarded in lieu of the meanings of more salient or prominent identities. Other empirical research suggests that role and categorical identities can combine in ways that have unique effects on important social outcomes. To explore and perhaps reconcile these possibilities, I examine the effects of three contexts (family, school, and veteran) at three different levels in the social structure (proximate, intermediate, large), on student and veteran identification. Using unique national data on 348 student veterans, I show that similar contexts do indeed affect multiple indicators of veteran and student identification: identity salience, identity prominence, private regard, and public regard. Moreover, these effects are especially pronounced for the effects of student context on both veteran and student identification. This study implies that some contexts simultaneously enhance the activation of multiple identities, rather than forcing one to subsume another, as well as providing pragmatic implications for increasing student veteran involvement in institutions of higher education.

Authors

• Laura Aufderheide Brashears, University of South Carolina

• Matthew E. Brashears, University of South Carolina-Columbia