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Graduate students face a variety of stressors that relate to poor academic performance, lower completion rates, and high rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress. Student peers provide supports for coping with these stressors and succeeding academically. However, graduate students may find it difficult to form relationships with their peers. This mixed method social network analysis (MMSNA) examines graduate student perceptions of their peer relationships and the factors associated with peer friendships in a program that placed students in cohorts for the first semester of a two-year Master of Social Work program. Findings from three student focus groups include four main themes related to the cohort system and the tendency for students to gravitate to others who were similar to them (i.e., homophily). Focus group findings informed model specification for a curved exponential family model of student friendships at the end of the third semester of the program (N = 70) that identified correlates of student friendships including statistically significant direct and homophily effects for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. First-semester relationships and shared classes in subsequent semesters also increased the likelihood of friendships in the third semester. Findings emphasize the value of cohorts and a diverse student body for peer relationships.

Ongoing campaigns in support of the Global War on Terrorism have created an influx of veterans attempting to reintegrate into civilian society. While some veterans reintegrate easily, others continue to struggle. An increasing number of studies have begun to take a more holistic approach to understanding the root causes of the distress observed in reintegrating veterans. The objective of this study was to utilise the existential framework as conceptualised by Irvin Yalom to generate a deeper understanding of the underlying factors contributing to the struggles that veterans experience in their return to society. A qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis (QIMS) approach was used to hear the combined voices of a selection of veterans from the USA and UK. A directed content analysis was used in conjunction with the QIMS methodology to categorise novel constructs in the context of existential ultimate concerns resulting in nine new themes: loss of identity, fear of death, loss of control, reliance on authority, feelings of alienation, self-isolation, resentment towards civilians, loss of collective sense of duty and loss of purpose. Findings enhance the understanding of conflicting values and beliefs underlying reintegration problems, informing future social work practice and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]