Percentage dat later spijt heeft van elke keuze. De balken en het volledige overzicht staan hieronder.
Levensstijl
Laatst beoordeeld 2026-05-09
Kwaliteit van bewijs 3.75/5
Beoordelingsscore op acht dimensies volgens de
kwaliteitsrubriek
. Elke dimensie krijgt een score van 1 tot 5.
D1 Bronverificatie
4/5
D2 Autoriteit en onafhankelijkheid van bronnen
4/5
D3 Nauwkeurigheid van spijtcijfer
1/5
D4 Vergelijkbaarheid van bronnen
2/5
D5 Gilovich-patroon
5/5
D6 Prozakwaliteit
5/5
D7 Volledigheid van voorbehouden
5/5
D8 Steekproefkwaliteit
4/5
Gemiddelde3.75/5
Proxygegevens — er bestaat geen directe spijtenquête voor deze beslissing. De percentages zijn afgeleid van tevredenheidsscores en toegangsdrempelgegevens in plaats van vragen die direct naar spijt vroegen. Zie opmerkingen hieronder.
Spijt van handelen
In het leger gaan
21%
21% van de veteranen zegt hun militaire dienst niet te zullen herhalen (d.w.z. impliciet spijtpercentage uit de DAV-enquête van 2015)
Amerikaanse veteranen over alle generaties, WWII tot post-9/11 tijdperk
retrospectief, geen vast tijdsbestek
Spijt van nalaten
Niet in het leger dienen
21%
Geen betrouwbare schatting — geen enkele enquête meet de spijt onder niet-veteranen die dienst overwogen maar niet dienden; weergegeven op gelijke hoogte met de actiekant in plaats van als een gemeten percentage
Amerikaanse civiele volwassenen die overwogen maar zich niet aansloten bij militaire dienst (geen directe enquête beschikbaar)
retrospectief, geen vast tijdsbestek
% betreurt deze keuze
In het leger gaanNiet in het leger dienen
21%21%
balanced — Ongeveer in balans — beide keuzes leveren vergelijkbare spijt op.
Gerelateerde keuzes
Semantisch vergelijkbare keuzes — zelfde terrein, andere afwegingen.
Een tussenjaar nemenDirect naar de universiteit gaan
10%31%
Niet-handelen overheerst
Spijt over niet-handelen 3.1× hoger
The DAV Veterans Pulse Survey of 2015, the largest multi-generational survey of US veterans (n = 1,701, nationally representative of approximately 22 million veterans from WWII through post-9/11 eras), found that 79% would, if they had to do it over, repeat their military service. The implied action-side rate of approximately 21% (those who would not or are uncertain whether they would repeat) is the primary metric for this entry. Pew Research’s 2011 survey of 1,853 veterans, including 712 post-9/11 veterans, found that 96% were proud of their service, 82% said their service helped them appreciate life more, 93% said it helped them mature, and 90% said it taught them to work with others. The two surveys converge on a picture of low to moderate action regret, with pride nearly universal and the “would serve again” rate consistently above 75%.
The inaction side has no direct survey data, so it carries no reliable regret estimate. No national survey was identified that asks non-veteran civilians whether they regret not serving in the military, and this gap in the literature is notable. An earlier version of this entry filled that gap with a manufactured 25% figure: it applied the Gilovich-Medvec principle that foregone career and life-path decisions with bounded windows of opportunity generate persistent inaction regret, calibrated against the career domain’s 22.3% share of top lifetime regrets in Roese and Summerville’s 2005 meta-analysis, and set the result modestly above the action side to produce an inaction-dominance gap. That number was a theory composite, not an empirical measurement, so it has been removed. Roese and Summerville show that career and identity choices are a leading regret domain in general, and the RAND survey shows most Americans would discourage enlisted service — but neither measures how often non-veterans actually regret not serving. The inaction rate is therefore shown level with the action side (21%) only to mark it as unmeasured, not to claim the two are equal.
Only the action side carries a measured rate, and even it carries substantial uncertainty. The action side benefits from two large nationally representative samples with near-direct “would serve again” questions, but survivorship bias is significant: veterans who developed severe PTSD or service-related disabilities are under-represented in voluntary panels, and active-duty satisfaction has declined sharply since 2019 (Blue Star Families found only 32% of active-duty families would recommend service in 2023, down from 55% in 2016), suggesting the 21% action regret may understate more recent cohorts. This entry documents the state of the evidence rather than a resolved bilateral comparison: strong action-side data, no inaction-side survey, and therefore no honest basis for declaring which side regrets more. The earlier inaction-dominance verdict rested on a manufactured number and has been withdrawn.
Bronnen: handelen
Bronnenverantwoording
Elk getal hieronder is wat elke bron rapporteerde, met het letterlijke citaat waarop we ons baseerden en hoe we tot ons cijfer kwamen. Klik op een link om rechtstreeks te verifiëren.
[1]DAV (Disabled American Veterans) Veterans Pulse Survey via PR Newswire — Landmark Survey Finds Veterans of All Generations Would Repeat their Military Service, But Don't Feel Supported by Government and the American Public
Primaire studie
79% of veterans across all generations (WWII through post-9/11) said they would, if they had to do it all over again, repeat their military service.
Fragment
“"Nearly eight in 10 would, if they had to do it all over again, repeat their service. Almost 8 out of 10 veterans say they would repeat their military service, but only half would encourage their sons and one-third would encourage their daughters to serve."
”
Brongegevens van
2015-11-10
Geraadpleegd
2026-05-09
Berekening
DAV Veterans Pulse Survey, conducted by global research firm GfK using KnowledgePanel. The survey was completed by 1,701 veterans, nationally representative of America's then approximately 22 million veterans, spanning WWII through post-9/11 eras. The 79% "would repeat" figure implies an action regret rate of approximately 21% (the share who would not or are uncertain whether they would repeat their service). The survey asked directly about whether veterans would make the same choice again, making it a near-direct regret measure. Note: "would not repeat" is not identical to "regrets joining" — some who would not repeat may still view the service as valuable but would not recommend it to others, or are uncertain. The 21% is therefore a plausible upper bound on the action regret rate, not a confirmed regret prevalence.
[2]Pew Research Center — Chapter 1: Overview — War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era
Primaire studie
96% of post-9/11 veterans say they are proud of their service; 82% say their military service helped them appreciate life more; 74% say it helped them get ahead in life.
Fragment
“"Post-9/11 veterans are proud of their service (96%), appreciate life more (82%) and believe that their military service has helped them get ahead in life (74%). Large majorities say that serving in the military has been either very or fairly useful in helping them become more mature (93%); gain self-confidence (90%); learn to work with other people (90%); and prepare for a job or career (72%)."
”
Brongegevens van
2011-10-05
Geraadpleegd
2026-07-07
Berekening
Pew Research Center "War and Sacrifice in the Post-9/11 Era" survey of 1,853 veterans (including 712 who served after 9/11), Chapter 1: Overview (corrected from Chapter 2, previously mis-cited here -- Chapter 2 covers war-policy attitudes and does not contain these figures). The 96% pride rate is not a regret rate; it measures emotional response to service, not whether veterans would make the same choice again. Used here as corroborating evidence that the action-regret rate is low: near-universal pride combined with 79% "would repeat" (DAV) and 82% who say service helped them appreciate life more establish a consistent picture of low service regret among US veterans. (A prior version of this note instead cited "82% who would advise a young person to join" -- that claim does not appear anywhere in the Pew report; the report's actual 82% figure is the "appreciate life more" statistic quoted above, now corrected.) The 4% who are not proud provides a directional lower bound on regret.
Bronnen: niet handelen
Bronnenverantwoording
Elk getal hieronder is wat elke bron rapporteerde, met het letterlijke citaat waarop we ons baseerden en hoe we tot ons cijfer kwamen. Klik op een link om rechtstreeks te verifiëren.
[1]RAND Corporation — What Americans Think About Veterans and Military Service: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey
Gerenommeerde referentie
54% of Americans would discourage a young person from enlisting as an enlisted service member, but 61% would encourage service via ROTC or a service academy. The split suggests the path to service matters more than service itself.
Fragment
“"A majority (54.4 percent) would discourage a young person close to them from enlisting in the military. A majority (61.2 percent) would encourage a young person to join via ROTC or a service academy. The pattern suggests barriers to enlisted service rather than to the concept of service itself."
”
Brongegevens van
2023-12-14
Geraadpleegd
2026-05-09
Berekening
RAND RRA1363-7, nationally representative American Life Panel surveys (February and June 2022). The 54.4% discouragement rate is used here only as context on public perception of enlisted service. It is NOT a regret rate for non-veterans: it measures what adults would advise a young person, not whether they themselves regret not serving. No published survey directly asks non-veterans "do you regret not joining the military?" Because no direct measurement exists, the inaction side carries no reliable regret estimate. We do not manufacture one: an earlier version of this entry blended the Gilovich-Medvec inaction-regret principle with Roese and Summerville's (2005) 22.3% career-domain regret share to engineer a 25% inaction rate and a 4-point dominance gap. That composite was not a measured value and has been removed. The inaction rate is now shown level with the action side (0.21) to signal "unmeasured," and the pattern is recorded as balanced rather than inaction-dominant.
[2]Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (APA) — What We Regret Most ... and Why↗ 13 other entries
Vakgenoten-beoordeeld
Career accounts for 22.3% of top lifetime regrets in a meta-analysis of 11 regret-ranking datasets; people most regret decisions in domains where they see the largest missed opportunities for change and growth.
Fragment
“"Life regrets are a reflection of where in life people see opportunity, that is, where they see the most tangible prospects for change, growth, and renewal."
”
Brongegevens van
2005-09-01
Geraadpleegd
2026-05-09
Berekening
Roese and Summerville (2005) meta-analysis of 11 regret-ranking studies. Career ranks second among lifetime regret domains (22.3%), after education (32.2%). This share describes the relative ranking of regret DOMAINS in the general population; it does not measure how many non-veterans regret not serving, and Roese and Summerville never study military service. It is cited here only to show that career/identity choices are a leading regret domain in theory — not as a basis for any specific inaction-regret percentage. The prior version of this entry mis-used the 22.3% figure (plus the Gilovich-Medvec inaction-dominance principle) to back-derive a 25% inaction rate; that derivation was unsupported and has been removed. The inaction side now carries no reliable estimate.
Kanttekeningen
DE INACTIEKANT HEEFT GEEN DIRECTE ENQUÊTE. De 21% aan de actiekant is afgeleid als het complement van het cijfer "zou dienst herhalen" uit de DAV Veterans Pulse Survey 2015 (79% zou herhalen, wat impliceert dat ~21% dat niet zou doen of onzeker is). "Zou niet herhalen" is niet identiek aan "heeft spijt van deelname" — het omvat ook wie onzeker is of de keuze als contextafhankelijk beschouwt. De bevinding van Pew uit 2011 dat 96% van de veteranen van na 9/11 trots is op hun dienst komt overeen met het DAV-cijfer en vestigt een laag-tot-matig spijtprofiel aan de actiekant. Beide enquêtes zijn onderhevig aan overlevingsbias: veteranen die ernstige PTSS ontwikkelden of niet wilden deelnemen, zijn ondervertegenwoordigd in vrijwillige panels. De tevredenheid onder actief dienstpersoneel neemt sinds 2019 af (Blue Star Families MFLS: 55% beveelt dienst aan in 2016 versus 32% in 2023), dus de 21% spijt aan de actiekant onderschat de spijt in recentere cohorten mogelijk. DE INACTIEKANT HEEFT GEEN BETROUWBARE SCHATTING: er werd geen nationale enquête gevonden die niet-veteranen rechtstreeks vraagt of ze spijt hebben dat ze niet dienden. Een eerdere versie van dit item presenteerde een inactiepercentage van 25% en een dominantieverschil van 4 punten aan de inactiekant; dat cijfer was gefabriceerd door het Gilovich-Medvec-principe van inactiespijt te vermengen met het aandeel carrièregerelateerde spijt van Roese en Summerville, en het is verwijderd omdat het nooit gemeten is. Het inactiepercentage wordt nu op gelijke hoogte met de actiekant (0,21) weergegeven, puur om te signaleren dat het niet gemeten is, en niet om te beweren dat de twee werkelijk gelijk zijn; lezers moeten de inactiekant als onbekend beschouwen. Dit item kan niet worden gezien als een bilateraal spijtpaar in de gebruikelijke zin: alleen de actiekant is gemeten; de inactiekant niet. De culturele context van militaire dienst verschilt enorm: de analyse betreft het Amerikaanse vrijwilligersleger, niet dienstplichtlegers of dienst in oorlogstijd waar de keuze niet vrijwillig is.
