Associations of Physical Activity, Mindfulness, & Resilience Practices with Perceived Quality of Life Among Female College Veterans

Female college veterans face a host of struggles both personally and academically. Research that focuses primarily on female veterans’ wellness needs as they transition into civilian life is limited and this population is woefully understudied in comparison to male veterans. The purpose of this study was to describe and explore some of the wellness needs of female college veterans making the transition from military service to college/civilian life. Twelve hundred and thirty female veterans from a University Veterans Center were sent a recruitment email where 125 successfully completed a life satisfaction (Frisch, 1994), physical activity (Craig et al., 2003), resilience (Connor & Davidson, 2003), and a five-facet mindfulness (Baer et al., 2008) questionnaire. The means for this population were: Quality of life (M= 37.8), Resilience (M= 70.5), Physical Activity MET minutes (M= 4,605), and Five-facet mindfulness (M= Observing 3.50, Describing = 3.38, Acting with Awareness M= 3.02, Non-Judging of Inner Experience M= 2.98, Non-reactivity to Inner Experience M= 3.06). Resilience was significantly (p <0.01) and positively correlated to all five domains of mindfulness (range r = 0.332 – 0.534) and was negatively associated with Quality of Life (QOL) (r= -0.204). Vigorous Activity minutes and Total Met Minutes were both positively associated with QOL (r= 0.300 and r= 0.199 respectively). This population of female veterans self-reported to have very low/low life satisfaction, low resilience, and high physical activity levels. The behaviors and traits reported in these female college veterans provide important information for developing resources and potential interventions in the future.