Social & Demographic Trends

The Difficult Transition from Military to Civilian Life

December 8, 2011

Military service is difficult, demanding and dangerous. But returning to civilian life also poses challenges for the men and women who have served in the armed forces, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey of 1,853 veterans. More than seven-in-ten veterans report having had an easy time readjusting to civilian life, but nearly a quarter say re-entry was difficult for them -- a figure that swells to 44% among veterans who served in the ten years since Sept. 11, 2001.

Why do some veterans have a hard time readjusting to civilian life while others make the transition with little or no difficulty? To answer that question, Pew researchers analyzed the attitudes, experiences and demographic characteristic of veterans to identify the factors that independently predict whether a service member will have an easy or difficult re-entry experience.

Read the full report for more about the factors that have shaped the re-entry experience of veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

See also our past reports on veterans:

• The Military-Civilian Gap: War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era
• The Military-Civilian Gap: Fewer Family Connections
• For Many Injured Veterans, A Lifetime of Consequences