This study of perceptions of campus climate for Personal and Social Responsibility (PSR) evaluated the extent to which observable differences existed among campuses that had or did not have military cadets as their primary student population. Specifically, it looked at civilian colleges and universities and collegiate military academies such as the United States Military Academy at West Point (USMA) and the United States Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs (USAFA).
The data sample for this study came from civilian-college students and cadets enrolled in 23 colleges and universities (which included USMA and USAFA) that were chosen by the Association of American Colleges and Universities to participate in the Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory (PSRI) during the 2007-08 school year. I measured the outcomes in this study by controlling for personal pre-college characteristics (i.e., highest level of parent’s education, race, gender, age, religious preference), structural variables of interest (i.e., campus size, campus selectivity, student class year, whether the school has a traditional honor code in place, whether the school is a military academy), and experience variables of interest (i.e., faculty/student interactions, meaningful discussions, public advocacy, efficacy of a judicial process).
Results from this study revealed that cadets had an overall higher perception of campus climate for PSR than college students did. Cadets also had unique and positive communications with military academy educators compared to communications between civilian-college students and civilian educators. Finally, both student and cadet perceptions of PSR seemed to decrease as they progressed in class year.