How Fraternities and Sororities Impact

Students (Or Do They?)

Drinking, academics, and social behavior under the microscope

Right around now is the start of the academic year at American universities. Among the
traditional activities accompanying the start of school is fraternity/sorority rush, in which
students who wish to join a Greek-letter organization attend functions to learn about and
select from the different houses and the fraternities and sororities decide which students
they would like to invite to become members.

Exact figures for the number of college students nationally involved in these organizations
are hard to pin down. However, from perusing several documents on the Internet, I would
estimate that roughly 1 million current students belong to fraternities and sororities, and that
when alumni are counted in the total, the number may be as high as 9 million (examples of
the statistics one can find are available here and here).

To let readers know where I'm coming from, I was never a member of a fraternity, but family
members of mine have been in fraternities and sororities. From talking to them and
numerous students of mine who have been in Greek-letter organizations, I feel I have at
least a decent store of knowledge about them.

A natural question for someone such as myself, who studies young-adult development and
has a background in social psychology, is what impact does participation in a fraternity or
sorority have on individuals' attitudes and behaviors, both in the short and long term.
However, any time participants make their own decisions to partake in an activity, as
opposed to being randomly assigned by an experimenter to participate or not participate,
there is the issue of self-selection.

In other words, there may be something about people who join Greek-letter organizations
-- extraversion, risk-taking, excitement-seeking, and so forth -- that sets them apart
from non-joiners. Thus, when we (potentially) see attitudinal/behavioral differences years
later between college alumni who did and did not participate in the fraternity/sorority
systerm, those differences could reflect the pre-college personalities of the two groups and
not the actual experience of being in a Greek organization. Hence, any research purporting
to show effects of fraternity/sorority participation should be taken with caution.   

One of the most extensive examinations of sorority life is the 2004 book Pledged, in which
author Alexandra Robbins blends information from member-informants, her own
journalistic interviews and undercover observations, and social-science research to tell
readers what goes on inside the houses of Greek Row and beyond.

At the conclusion of her book, Robbins reported having "deeply mixed feelings" about
sororities. The two primary benefits claimed by many sorority members were the network of
female friends and a sense of confidence. The community-service aspect of sororities also
appears to carry forward beyond college for many members. (Sororities at my home school,
Texas Tech University, require their students to participate in at least two extracurricular
activities, according to this article in the school newspaper.)

As Robbins writes, however, "for every girl who emerges from a sorority with improved self-
esteem, there are numerous others whose confidence has been crushed" (p. 320).
Robbins lists several additional problem areas, such as an atmosphere of conformity,
intolerance, and "constantly being judged;" a heavy reliance on men for social validation;
and enormous time and financial commitments. In some sororities, members are
officially required to attend a certain percentage of events and even when not technically
required, many feel implicitly that they should attend sorority activities over important
outside functions.  

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For some people, memories from the Greek years appear to have a special significance,
even influencing behavior decades later. In his book, Beer and Circus about three A's of
university life (academics, athletics, and alcohol), Murray Sperber writes about fraternity
alumni seeking a little cross-generational bonding with current members through sharing
memories of alcohol mayhem. "The main storytellers are often alumni, and they frequently
gather in their old fraternity houses to narrate the tales and, on occasion, to try to relive
them" (p. 152).

The overwhelming majority of academic research on Greek life appears to be on heavy

drinking and other substance use, with studies consistently showing that Greek-organization
members drink more heavily than matched non-members (here and here). Again, though,
the issue of self-selection is important to consider, and research suggests the correlation
between Greek membership and drinking arises both from drinking-prone individuals
selecting themselves into fraternities/sororities and from the Greek environment being
conducive to drinking.

There is also research on fraternities/sororities and academics. Members of Greek-letter

organizations achieve somewhat higher Grade Point Averages than unaffiliated students
(fraternities and sororities can, of course, use academic qualifications in selecting members,
thus boosting house GPA's, but the researchers statistically tried to take into account pre-
college academic records of students).

Other research, looking at tests of cognitive abilities (e.g., writing, reasoning, critical
thinking) showed fraternity/sorority members to considerably underperform their unaffiliated
counterparts in the first year of college, but the fraternity/sorority deficit to shrink greatly in
the second and third years. 

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One recommendation made by both Robbins and academic researchers is that Greek-letter
organizations consider deferred or rolling admissions so that, for example, students could
join during spring instead of fall. Students who join fraternities/sororities in spring seem to
do better academically, suggesting that they used their first fall semester to concentrate on
academics and get settled into university life. Also, a more extended timeframe would allow,
in Robbins's words, existing and prospective new members to "get to know each other
naturally rather than through forced three-minute conversations" (p. 325). 

Hazing is, of course, an important issue regarding fraternities and sororities. I have not
discussed it, as so much has been written elsewhere. Readers interested in suggested
reforms are encouraged to consult Robbins's book Pledged. Also worth examining are
Robbins's comments on the lack of racial-ethnic, socioeconomic, and general diversity in
Greek-letter organizations.

Finally, the website Wikihow offers advice on "How to Rush a Fraternity" (which I think

would also hold for sororities). The suggestions include what I think are some good,
common sense tips, such as realizing in advance the commitment -- in terms of time,
money, and just general devotion  -- that will be involved.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-campus/201109/how-fraternities-and-sororities-
impact-students-or-do-they