An examination of factors influencing differences in academic performance among active duty military students and Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship students in a university setting.

摘要

Naval Science Departments at universities across the country have two groups of students: Active duty and non-active duty students. These two types of students seem to have parity with regard to requisite academic ability, however often there is a large disparity among actual academic performance. This study investigated possible relationships between academic achievement, motivation, mental maturity, age, marital status, and military status. The following research questions were investigated: (1) What is the direct affect of autonomous motivation as measured by the Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire (SRQ-L) on academic achievement? (2) What is the direct affect of mental maturity as measured by the Basic Achievement Skills Inventory (BASI) survey on academic achievement? (3) What is the indirect effect of age on academic achievement? (4)What is the indirect effect of military status on academic achievement? and (5) What is the indirect effect of marital status on academic achievement?;These research questions were investigated using a path analysis design. Ninety-six undergraduate students in the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) department were administered the SRQ-L, BASI survey, and a demographic survey. Results from the adjusted path analysis model indicate that military program and BASI scores explains 27% of grade point average. The CFI, NFI, and RMSEA values were 0.982, 0.952, and 0.075 respectively, indicating a good match of the model and the observed data.