Effects of Greek Membership on Academic Integrity, Alcohol Abuse, and Risky Sexual Behavior at a Small College

Abstract

At a small, church-affiliated, liberal arts college, 109 Greek-affiliated students and 138 non-Greek students completed measures of alcohol abuse, sexual behaviors, types of academic cheating behaviors, and attitudes toward academic cheating. The results revealed that Greek students were more likely than non-Greeks to have used alcohol in the past month, to have had more drinks when using alcohol, to have participated in risky behaviors, and to have had unprotected sex. In cheating behaviors, the Greek women were more likely than the non-Greek women to fabricate sources, but the Greek men and non-Greek men did not differ on any of the cheating behaviors or attitudes. (22 ref)-Assistant Dean of Students for Community Development, Jacksonville University.

Alcohol Use in the Greek System, 1999-2009: A Decade of Progress

“…For example, research indicates that sorority members are exhibiting greater levels of heavy drinking and report that this behavior is acceptable and even desirable [52, 56, 74]. Furthermore, Reis and Trockel [76] found that both fraternity and sorority member’s alcohol expectancies were positively related to boastful behavior about alcohol use. Indeed, compared to non-members, sorority members drink more and experience higher amounts of negative consequences than fraternity members [22, 52, 77].…”

“…In addition, they were less likely to report that their friends would think condoms were necessary [61]. Such sexual perceptions and behaviors are a risky combination, and alcohol use has also been linked to sexual victimization and consequences by sorority members [76–78]. Heavy drinking places sorority members at particular risk because, after consuming the same dose of alcohol, a woman will reach a higher BAC than a man with an equivalent body mass, due in part to differences in body composition and first pass metabolism [79].…”

An Examination of Academic Dishonesty Among Sorority and Nonsorority Women

“…if academic dishonesty is increasing among women who are actively involved in their undergraduate experience (hendershott et al, 1999), then this study is important to the understanding of female peer groups and academic dishonesty. sororities, for example, bond a group of students together and create a close-knit peer culture that can influence students to participate in risky behaviors (eberhardt, rice, & smith, 2003;Whipple & sullivan, 1998 …”

The 2017–2018 Psi Chi Presidential Initiative: Help Helped Me

“…Common stereotypes that are associated with Greek letter organizations, fraternities in particular, are that members engage in excessive drinking, haze pledges, are sexually promiscuous, are arrogant, and pay for friends (Tollini & Wilson, 2010). Although research has supported that members of Greek life drink more than nonmembers (Baer, 1994;Eberhardt, Rice, & Smith, 2003), the other stereotypes about members are not empirically supported. The existence of these beliefs is often due to media coverage of extreme cases and can be explained using the availability heuristic described previously.…”