Study confirms Greek students heavier drinkers in college
Rapid decrease in alcohol intake found in the years after graduation

A common belief for many who have experienced the college environment is that drinking and Greek life go hand-in-hand. Many perceive fraternities and sororities as havens for drunken activity that lasts years past their higher education, thus making affiliation with the Greek system problematic both during college and beyond. A new study by researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of North Carolina confirmed that students who are heavily involved in the Greek system were heavier drinkers during college than other students, but the study also found that those students involved with the Greek system rapidly decreased their alcohol intake in the years after college.

"The argument has been that Greeks, some of the heaviest drinkers in college, might curtail their drinking for a short time after college in order to find a job, spouse, etc., but would resume a pattern of heavy drinking once these goals were achieved," said Bruce Bartholow, assistant professor of Psychological Sciences who, along with Kenneth Sher and Jennifer Krull, Psychological Sciences, conducted the study. Earlier research conducted by this group suggested that Greek members reduce heavy drinking shortly after college, but questions of longer-term involvement had not been addressed.

Lead author Bartholow and co-authors Sher and Krull examined 318 individuals in chronological groups ranging from college freshman to seven years post-college (approximately age 30) as part of the Alcohol, Health and Behavior Project (AHBP). Participants in each group reported their alcohol intake during the past year, as well as their level of involvement with fraternities or sororities by answering questionnaire items.

One of the surprising findings in the study was a sex difference. Being involved in a fraternity led to increasing levels of alcohol use from freshman to senior year, but being involved in a sorority was associated with decreasing levels of alcohol use from freshman to senior year. After college, though, the AHBP researchers saw a rapid decrease in heavy drinking levels, particularly for men who had been heavily involved in fraternities. Post-college drinking levels remained low among all individuals through the final year of the study.

The researchers also found that perceptions about friends’ drinking levels were an important determinant of participants’ own drinking, particularly among those who were heavily involved in the Greek system, suggesting that the social environment plays a key role in determining drinking behavior.

"We suggest that leaving the campus environment is an important determinant of reduced drinking among those young men heavily involved in Greek life during college," Bartholow said.

The researchers concluded that Greek involvement in college appears to represent a time-limited, situational effect on drinking rather than the early stages of a life-course persistent pattern of heavy drinking, at least for most students.

The study was published in the November 2003 issue of Health Psychology.

Additional links:

Bruce Bartholow
Jennifer Krull
Kenneth Sher
Department of Psychological Studies

Alcohol, Health and Behavior Project
Midwest Alcoholism Research Center

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