Memorial Day is set aside to remember the sacrifices of the men and women who died in service to their country. Do people affiliated with the military believe that other Americans appreciate their work? The following chart utilizes data from some of our newer surveys (collected between fall 2017 and spring 2025, N=4090).

Over half of the young people surveyed do believe that Americans appreciate Veterans’ sacrifices (55.8%). Cadets, especially academy cadets, are less likely to believe that the average person appreciates their work. ROTC cadets, who interact with civilian students while in training to become officers, see things a bit more like their civilian peers. Perhaps ROTC cadets receive more feedback from their civilian counterparts during their training.

Memorial Day celebrations will continue today. We know from these data that most people affiliated with the military appreciate the support they receive but more awareness of military lifestyle and culture would help to bridge any gaps that exist between the military and broader society.

Guns.  The term alone generates deep sentiments and emotions.  The topic of gun regulation in the United States is one of the most politically contested (Campbell, 2021). On one end of the spectrum is the literal interpretation of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution stating the U.S. will have “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” On the other end, there is an ongoing social movement seeking various forms of regulating firearms, such as assault weapons that are “semiautomatic”—feeding the barrel continuously and unremittingly. As of late 2023, survey estimates found that just under half of U.S. households have a gun; while just over half of Americans favored more strict gun laws (Jones, 2023).

But what about generational differences?  Most Millennials (mid-20’s to 40) have lined up with libertarian views on a host of issues including individual and civil-related rights for the past forty years including not regulating guns (see Twenge, 2023). Still, slightly more 18- to 29-year-olds favor more strict gun laws in the United States (almost 2/3rds) compared to older Americans (Schaeffer, 2023). But what about within group differences including cadets committed to the profession of arms compared to undergraduate civilian peers? Are they more or less gun law restrictive?

We have been examining attitudes toward a variety of socio-political issues for 22 years. Among them are abortion, capital punishment, free college tuition, prayer in public schools, and social inequity, among other topics including guns. In the trend chart below, we show attitudes toward agreements with the statement “There should be stringent control of the sale of handguns.” While overall the trend lines are moving toward less agreement, the topic is volatile at best. Further, our three groups show consistent agreement as in our previous of studies of other socio-political topics such on the role of national defense (Ender, Rohall, and Matthews, 2014). Further, the groups tend to reflect the American population for their generation overall—more strident than older generations. Yet, within group differences show they too are split on the issue of handgun regulation. Do note that our question deals with a more extreme form of gun regulation—handguns sales. Our question is not on an assault weapon ban where more of the politics and polling are focused.  What is your attitude toward gun regulation? Next, has their attitude toward handguns changed over time? Is it influenced by mass shootings that easily identifiable with names like Columbine, Luby’s, Charleston, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, Buffalo, and Uvalde (Lawler and Rummler, 2023)? There is an overall downward slope into the last decade, but some increase this decade, notably more so for civilians.

NOTE: Question not asked of military academy cadets in 2002, ROTC cadets in 2014 and after 2021, and civilian undergraduates after 2020.

Works Cited

Campbell, Donald J. (2021). Guns in America: Examining the Facts (Contemporary Debates). Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO and Rienner.

Ender, Morten G.,David E. Rohall, and Michael D. Matthews.(2014). The Millennial Generation and National Defense: Attitudes of Future Military and Civilian Leaders. Basingstoke and NY: Palgrave.

Jones, Jeffrey M. (2023). “Majority in U.S. Continues to Favor Stricker Gun Laws,” Gallup.com (October 31).  Available at: https://news.gallup.com/poll/513623/majority-continues-favor-stricter-gun-laws.aspx.

Lawler, Dave, and Orien Rummler. (2023). “The Deadliest Mass Shooting in Modern History,” Axios (October 26).

Schaeffer, Katherine. (2023). “Key Facts About Americans and Guns,” Pew Research Center (September 13).

Twenge, Jean M. (2023). Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future. NY: Atria Books, p. 313.

Reflecting on the role of faith among young cadets and civilians during the 2019 Christmas season, we looked at the proportion of our sample that claimed to be Christian in these groups. We continue this journey by digging a little deeper. This time, we examine the proportion of young people who actively try to share their faith lives. Most of our sample are on a college campus or an academy, many of whom live in a micro community where they work, sleep and study. It is in this same environment where they live out their faith. Do they actively reach out to other people to share their faith?

We use our most recent data, collected from 2017 to 2023 (N=3,012). Here, we see a different picture emerge when we ask the question, “Have you ever tried to encourage someone to believe in Jesus Christ or to accept Jesus Christ as his or her savior?” Our previous findings suggested that cadets, especially academy cadets, were much more likely to identify as Christian than their civilian counterparts with 80% of academy cadets but only 63% of civilian students claiming to be Christians. When it comes to outreach, it appears that 39% of academy cadets and 32% of civilian cadets say that they have asked someone to believe in Jesus. However, these differences do not appear to be statistically significant (Chi-Square=5.568, p<.234). This finding probably reflects the small number of civilians in our latest data, just 209.

Many would consider Christian evangelization as an invitation from a believer to convince others to join their deeply held beliefs. Our data demonstrate that about a third of our sample, no matter their military affiliation, has actively tried to do this. As another Christmas season comes to an end, our data give us some insights into the spiritual lives of young people today.

In our 2015 article called Intersecting Identities: Race, Military Affiliation, and Youth Attitudes towards War, (War & Society) we examined the relative effects of racial and military statuses on attitudes toward the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We generally found that while African-Americans were less supportive of these efforts, military status made a difference; African-American cadets were much more supportive of both wars than their civilian peers. Data for that article was quite old, from 2002 to 2010. Here, we look at newer data, to see if these patterns have changed. In these data, we see that the pattern holds for surveys collected from 2012-2017. As before, African-American civilians report the least support for both war efforts while white cadets report the most support. However, African-American cadets continue to report the second most support, suggesting a strong military effect.

Our data clearly show, much like traditional polls by Gallup and other organizations, that the Afghanistan War received more support than the war in Iraq. What role does the military play in identity and attitudes? We also also show, in both cases, having a military affiliation impacts attitudes toward these conflicts. Regarding racial status, it would be easy to say that African Americans are less supportive of war than whites, but it is also clear that military status intersects with race. Perhaps cadets are socialized in the military to be more hawkish – just like their white peers. Maybe more hawkish African Americans join the services. That said, they are different than their white peers, whether they are civilian or associated with the military. These data help demonstrate the complexities of how our statuses and roles impact our thoughts and feelings about the world.

First Generation College Students (FGCS) means you are enrolled in college and on track to graduate and your parents or guardians and siblings have not completed a 4-year college or university degree but may have attended.  Estimates are that approximately 20 percent of college students in the United States are FGCS. FGCS, on one hand, is a good news story as this group represents economic upward social mobility for a distinct and significant group of Americans. On the other hand, FGCS are more likely to leave the university even controlling for other important background variables such as race, ethnicity, sex, and social class.  

A major predictor of college retention is the ability to pay for a college education and experience. But what happens when college costs are all covered? Are there still differences between FGCS and non-FGCS? Our data below point to some differences among and within our three groups in the directions we might expect. However, the differences are not exceptionally dramatic.   

We compare FGCS with non-FGCS by Military Academy cadets, ROTC cadets, and civilian college students between 2017 and 2022 across a handful of typical and contemporary college life issues.  Our sample yielded an underrepresented 13 percent of military academy cadets as FGCS compared to the national average of 20 percent; a representative 21 percent of ROTC cadets are FGCS; and whopping overrepresentation of 38 percent of civilian college students are FGCS.

On most of the college life issue items in the chart above, our three affiliations coupled with generational college status are uniform. Civilian non-FGSC are the least dissatisfied with their college learning experience at four percent. For all the other items, the percentages are slightly in the direction of FGCS. There are dramatic distinctions among civilians and within military academy cadets for feeling that their level of classes is too difficult—15 percent between FGCS military cadets and 18 percent for civilians.  We added paying for college where the findings are somewhat expected and somewhat not. Military Academy cadets have no college or living expenses, civilians certainly do. More the half of the latter who are FGCS are having problems. ROTC cadets are notable as they are scholarship’d but not to the degree of military academy cadets. Their difference of 22 percent (non)FGCS needs further examination and consideration; perhaps reflecting income inequalities between (non)FGCS families.

How might students, faculty, and staff and their campuses address these inequities? Examples of interventions can include new affinity groups on campus or merging with existing ones such as at Columbia University, faculty celebrating and legitimizing FGCS such as UCLA faculty who made a video about being First Gen, or establishing courses on campus such as the University of Georgia or programs such as those at Chapman University. Other efforts could include special training of faculty and staff to advise in faculty development on behalf of FGCS; student liaisons from affinity groups in classes and academic excellence programs; and of course, continued research on the experiences of FGCS.

Sources Consulted

Collier, Peter J., and David L. Morgan. 2008. “‘Is That Paper Really Due Today?’ Differences in First Generation and Traditional College Students’ Understandings of Faculty Expectations.” Higher Education 55(4): 425–446.

Jack, Anthony A. 2016. “(No) Harm in Asking: Class, Acquired Cultural Capital, and Academic Engagement at an Elite University.” Sociology of Education 89(1): 1–19.

Jack, Anthony A. 2019. The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Laemmli, Taylor, Eric Grodsky, and Lyn C. Macgregor. 2022. “Going Places: First‐Generation College Students Framing Higher Education,” Sociological Forum, 37(4): 972-994.

Pratt, Ian S., Hunter B. Harwood, Jenel T. Cavazos, and Christopher P. Ditzfield. 2019. “Should I Stay or Should I Go?: Retention in First-Generation College Students,” Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory, and Practice 21(1): 105-118.

Veteran’s Day occurs every year on November 11th in the US to mark the 11th month, of the 11th day, at the 11th hour when World War I ended. The day is marked with events across America, especially at places like Arlington National Cemetery where President Biden appeared this year. Do young people appreciate the military in the same ways as their parents? Do they have pride in the women and men who serve or have served in the armed forces?

We have asked our sample of young people their attitudes toward service members for many years. Here, we emphasize findings from 2017 to 2021. When asked how much they agreed with the statement, “I am proud of the men and women who serve in the military”; a full 97% of respondents agreed strongly or somewhat agreed with it. Asked about a different statement, 96% agreed that “I have confidence in the ability of our military to perform well in wartime.” These numbers are quite positive!

Our data confirm an uproariously positive attitude toward the military, even among civilian respondents—a group whose college-attending grandparents in the 1960’s and 1970’s would have shown less support for.

Technically, these data do vary significantly by military status (statistics not shown). For instance, only 66.5% of civilian respondents said they agree strongly (exclusively, not including somewhat agree) that they are confident in military performance during wartime compared to 83.3% of ROTC and 74.5% of academy cadets. There may be some tension in these findings but, overall, young Americans in colleges and universities clearly support the troops as we move past another Veterans Day.