Collaborative Research: Military Service and the Life Course

对服兵役相关性的研究通常局限于特定的历史时期（如越南战争时期）或特定群体的经历（如第二次世界大战一代）。这样的设计排除了对主要社会制度的长期变化对退伍军人结果的影响方式的分析。这个项目关注的是，在过去的半个世纪里，随着更广泛的制度变革重塑了美国社会，服兵役和各种结果（即婚姻、就业、教育和收入）之间的关系是否以及如何发生了变化。数据来自1964年至2012年的当前人口调查（CPS），与目前现有的公共CPS数据文件相比，该数据将在两个方面得到显著增强：首先，关键措施将随着时间的推移而协调一致。其次，退伍军人的个人记录将在他们参加CPS的整整16个月里纵向联系起来。这些独特而丰富的数据使解决两个具体的实证问题成为可能。首先，在过去的半个世纪里，退伍军人和非退伍军人之间的差异是如何变化的？第二，在过去的半个世纪里，具体的军事经历，包括在战斗中服役和与服役有关的残疾，在最近几十年里是如何变化的？在这两组分析中，考虑了四组结果：婚姻、教育、就业和收入。以前的研究没有直接考虑过如此广泛的队列和时期的退伍军人结果的变化，也没有足够大的样本来单独考虑女性退伍军人或少数民族退伍军人的经历。更广泛的影响：相对而言，人们对9/11后服兵役的社会和经济后果知之甚少，尤其是与前几代人的经历相比。事实上，国会和政府继续对缺乏关于这个时代的退伍军人如何重新适应平民生活的研究表示关注（医学研究所，2010）。此外，退伍军人长期以来一直是军队最好（或最差）的招募者。重要的是，退伍军人在服役期结束后能够成功地担任平民角色，以便为未来的全志愿部队提供人员。

"Military Service and the Life Course" Meredith Kleykamp, John R. Warren, Alair MacLean Research on the correlates of military service has typically focused narrowly on particular historical periods (e.g., the Vietnam era) or on the experiences of particular cohorts (e.g., the World War II generation). Such designs preclude analysis of the ways in which veterans' outcomes are influenced by longer-term changes to major social institutions. This project focuses on whether and how relationships between military service and a variety of outcomes (i.e., marriage, employment, education, and earnings) have changed as broader institutional changes have reshaped American society in the past half century. Data are from the 1964-2012 Current Population Surveys (CPS) that will be significantly enhanced in two ways (as compared to currently existing public CPS data files): First, key measures will be harmonized over time. Second, records for individual veterans will be linked longitudinally across the full 16 months of their participation in the CPS. These uniquely rich data make it possible to address two specific empirical questions. First, how have differences between veterans and non-veterans changed over the past half century? Second, how have the correlates of specific military experiences, including serving in combat and having a service-related disability, changed in recent decades across the past half century? In both sets of analyses, four sets of outcomes are considered: marriage, education, employment, and earnings. No previous research has directly considered changes in veterans' outcomes across such an extensive array of cohorts and periods, or with a large enough sample to separately consider the experiences of female veterans or of veterans from ethno-racial minority groups. Broader Impacts: Relatively little is known about the social and economic consequences of post-9/11 military service, especially as compared to the experiences of earlier generations. Indeed, Congress and the administration continue to express concern about the lack of research on how veterans of this era readjust to civilian life (Institute of Medicine 2010). In addition, veterans have long been the best (or worst) recruiters for the military. It is important that veterans are successful in their civilian roles after their periods of service in order to staff future all-volunteer forces.