The present study provides strong evidence that higher rates of substance use among US college students who join fraternities and sororities predate their college attendance, and that membership in a fraternity or sorority is associated with considerably greater than average increases in heavy episodic drinking and annual marijuana use during college. These findings have important implications for prevention and intervention efforts aimed toward college students, especially members of fraternities and sororities.

BACKGROUND The present study is the first to examine the developmental course of high-intensity drinking (i.e., consuming 10+ drinks in a row) across late adolescence and the transition to adulthood. METHODS National longitudinal data (N=3,718) from Monitoring the Future were used to examine trajectories of 10+ high-intensity drinking from age 18 through 25/26 overall and across sociodemographic subgroups; results were compared with similar analysis of 5+ binge drinking trajectories. RESULTS Results document that 10+ drinkers consume not just a greater quantity of alcohol on a given drinking occasion, but also engage in 5+ drinking more frequently than drinkers who do not report having 10 or more drinks. Developmental patterns for 10+ and 5+ drinking were similar, with peak frequencies reported at age 21/22. Greater peaks in both 10+ and 5+ drinking were documented among men and among college attenders, compared to women and non-attenders, respectively. However, there was a steeper decline in 10+ drinking after age 21/22, indicating that risk for consumption of 10 or more drinks in a row is more clearly focused on the early twenties. Patterns of developmental change in both behaviors were driven largely by college students: no significant age-related change in 10+ drinking was observed among men and women who did not go to college, and no significant age-related change in 5+ drinking was observed among female non-attenders. CONCLUSIONS Findings underscore the importance of recognizing high-intensity drinkers as a unique high-risk group, and that college attendance is associated with particularly strong peaks in the developmental course of high-intensity drinking.

Factor analysis of 18 Likert-type items dealing with gender stereotypes about family roles was conducted and yielded two measures: one focused on marital roles and one focussed on child rearing. Respondents were parents of children in the third and fourth grades of a large industrialized city in the Midwest. The sample included 364 families equally divided between middle and lower class with 23% African American and 77% European American. For both scales, more stereotyped scores were obtained by parents who were lower in social status, less educated, full-time homemakers, African Americans, and fathers. Parents' scores related to a separate measure of children's stereotypes and the marital-role attitudes related to actual roles reported by family members. Daughters whose parents obtained less stereotyped scores had a more internal locus of control, showed a trend toward more independent coping skills, and-in the middle class-obtained higher scores on achievement tests. Research over the past two decades has not only demonstrated gender differences in children's behavior, attitudes, and personality (Huston, 1983, 1985), but has also shown that the relationships between family experiences, such as parental divorce and the mother's employment status, are different for sons than for daughters (Hetherington & Camara, 1984; Hoffrnan, 1989). Many of these gender differences have been linked to the different socialization that boys and girls experience in the family (

Risk-taking is statistically normative during adolescence, yet is associated with adverse outcomes including substance use. The present study draws the distinction between protective factors (effective for those identified as high risk takers) and promotive factors (effective for all) against substance use, focusing on parental monitoring, school bonding, and sports participation. A total of 36,514 8th and 10th grade participants in the national Monitoring the Future study were included. Although parental monitoring was associated with lower alcohol and marijuana use among all adolescents (i.e., promotive effect), these effects were strongest among the highest risk takers (i.e., protective effect) and females. School bonding was associated with lower levels of both alcohol and marijuana use among all groups of adolescents, but these promotive effects were weak. Sports participation was associated with higher levels of alcohol use among all males and among 8th grade females who did not identify as high risk takers. Despite being a risk factor for alcohol use, sports participation did demonstrate a promotive effect against marijuana use among 10th grade females only, and especially so for high risk-taking females (i.e., protective effect). Overall, these findings suggest that of the three mechanisms studied, parental monitoring emerged as the most promising entry point for substance use prevention and intervention across groups, particularly for females and high risk-taking adolescents.

Among 12th graders who use both alcohol and marijuana, the majority use simultaneously, although not all use heavily. Given the recognized increased public health risks associated with simultaneous use, adolescent prevention programming should include focus on particular risks of simultaneous use.