Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Vol. 4, Iss. 2, September 2009

THE EFFECTS OF FRATERNITY/SORORITY MEMBERSHIP ON COLLEGE EXPERIENCES AND OUTCOMES: A PORTRAIT OF COMPLEXITY
Ashley M. Asel, Tricia A. Seifert, and Ernest T. Pascarella
This study estimated the effects of fraternity/sorority membership on a wide range of college experiences and outcomes for first-year and senior college students at a large, public, Midwestern university. The findings suggest a complex portrait of the relationships between affiliation, engagement, and learning outcomes. Fraternity/sorority membership appeared to facilitate social involvement during college but may have limited the diversity of relationships. It was associated with higher levels of community service, but also increased the odds of excessive alcohol use. In the presence of controls for important, confounding influences, being a fraternity/sorority member had little consistent influence on grades or perceived impact of college. There was little support for gender differences in the impact of affiliation. Finally, implications for student affairs professionals in their work with undergraduate fraternity/sorority leaders and members were considered.

Most institutions of higher education hold student learning and success as parts of their primary missions (Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, Whitt, & Associates, 2005; Kuh, Schuh, Whitt, & Associates, 1991). Faculty members, staff members, and administrators have attempted to distinguish between the in-class and out-of-class experiences that foster – as well as inhibit – student learning and success (American Association of Colleges &Universities [AAC&U], 2002). Developing a thorough understanding of the relationship between fraternity/sorority membership, student engagement, and student learning has important implications for student affairs practice and institutional policy. The apparent lack of congruence between espoused values and fraternity/sorority members’ behavior, however, has led to debates on many campuses regarding the educational merits of the fraternity/sorority community (Franklin Square Group, 2003). The present study adds to the body of research by examining the complex relationship between fraternity/sorority affiliation and a wide array of college experiences and learning outcomes in students’ first and senior years of college. Review of the Literature A body of research has examined the relationship between fraternity/sorority membership, engagement in educationally-purposeful activities, and student learning and development. Some researchers suggest fraternity/sorority affiliation is associated positively with increased levels of volunteerism and civic responsibility, and increased willingness to donate to charitable and/or religious causes, as well as involvement in student organizations, general education gains (Hayek, Carini, O’Day, & Kuh, 2002; Whipple & Sullivan, 1998), and persistence through the senior year (Nelson, Halperin, Wasserman, Smith, & Graham, 2006). Fraternity/sorority members may also experience greater gains in interpersonal skills than unaffiliated students (Hunt & Rentz, 1994; Pike, 2000). Several other researchers also have reported that fraternity/sorority members tend to be more involved during college (Astin, 1977, 1993; Baier & Whipple, 1990; Pike & Askew, 1990). Conversely some researchers suggest fraternity/sorority affiliation inhibits student learning and contributes to negative health behaviors. Among the findings, fraternity/sorority members have 1

Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Vol. 4, Iss. 2, September 2009 reported being less open to interacting with diverse peers or being challenged by diverse perspectives than their non-affiliated peers (Antonio, 2001; Milem, 1994; Pascarella, Edison, Nora, Hagedorn, & Terenzini, 1996; Wood & Chesser, 1994). Researchers have also linked affiliation with higher rates of alcohol abuse (Wechsler, 1996; Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Grossman, & Zanakos, 1997; Wechsler, Dowdall, Maenner, Gledhill-Hoyt, & Lee, 1998; Wechsler, Kuh, & Davenport, 1996), and engaging in higher levels of drinking and unsafe sexual practices (Eberhardt, Rice, & Smith, 2003; Tampke, 1990; Wechsler, Kuh, & Davenport, 1996). Finally, fraternity/sorority members are more likely to admit to academic dishonesty during college than their unaffiliated peers (McCabe & Bowers, 1996; Storch, 2002). In a major longitudinal study, the report of preliminary results included a negative impact of fraternity membership on men’s critical thinking skills after the first year of college (Pascarella et al., 1996), but the first-year deficit in critical thinking skills did not persist through the rest of the mens’ college experience (Pascarella, Flowers, and Whitt, 1999). There was no evidence to support the assertion that being a member of a sorority had a significant effect on critical thinking skills. The impact of fraternity/sorority membership on undergraduate student experiences and outcomes has yielded mixed results. The “significant under-representation of research on fraternities/sororities relative to their prevalence in the campus community,” (Molasso, 2005, p. 5), and the fact that “psychosocial, cognitive and identity development issues are as important for this community as they are for the broader campus student body” (Molasso, p. 7), make apparent the need to further study the relationship between fraternity/sorority membership and a myriad of student engagement measures including learning outcomes. What are some unique effects of fraternity/sorority membership on college first-year and senior students? According to Astin’s theory of involvement (1984), if affiliated students were more engaged in their educational experience they should report greater learning outcomes as a consequence of their greater involvement. Unlike previous research, the rigorous analytic method used in the present study took into account both students’ levels of precollege out-ofclass engagement as well as their inclination to report an influential high school education. This analytic approach provided for a conservative estimate of the relationship between affiliation and a wide range of in- and out-of-class experiences as well as desirable outcomes of college for both first-year and senior students, thus painting a relatively comprehensive picture of the effects of fraternity/sorority membership on a large sample of students at a major state research university where fraternity/sorority life involves thousands of students each year. Methods Institution The site for the present study was a large, Midwestern, public, research university of approximately 20,300 undergraduates. Fraternity/sorority life is one of many—but one of the larger—opportunities for student involvement. Roughly 10% of the undergraduate population at the time of the study were members of 13 organizations affiliated with the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and 14 organizations affiliated with the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC). There were also eight National Pan-Hellenic Council, Inc. (NPHC) organizations primarily serving minority students, but the participant group included no more than 25 students total from these 2

Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Vol. 4, Iss. 2, September 2009 eight organizations. While the present study did not distinguish between IFC, NPC, and NPHC organizations, the overwhelming majority of affiliated students were associated with IFC and NPC organizations. There is a more diverse landscape of fraternities/sororities than is discussed in this paper (Torgerson & Parks, 2009), but results of this study are generalizable only to historically white fraternities/sororities. Sample The sample for the study consisted of first-year and senior students who completed a 30-minute, web-based survey. Employing questions that have been empirically shown to have the greatest impact on undergraduate student learning and persistence (Pascarella et al., 2006), the survey asked an extensive series of questions about students’ high school and college experiences. After two follow-up reminders, completed surveys were received from 3,153 students (1,477 first-year students and 1,676 seniors) for a 36.5% response rate. Variables The independent variable in all analyses was fraternity/sorority membership, coded 1 for affiliated and 0 for unaffiliated. Approximately 16.4% of first-year students (N = 242) and about 17.4% of senior students (N = 291) indicated that they were fraternity or sorority members. The effects of fraternity/sorority affiliation were examined on two types of dependent measures: college engagement and college outcomes. The engagement variables measured both in- and outof-class engagement. The dichotomous engagement measures asked whether or not students had worked on a research project with a faculty member; participated in a cultural or racial awareness workshop; or had participated in a debate or lecture on current social or political issues. A number of single-item, continuous variables asked students to indicate the typical number of hours per week they spent preparing for class, the hours they participated in cocurricular (extracurricular) activities; hours devoted to community service or volunteer activities; the number of books read, essay exams completed, term papers or written reports completed during the current academic year; and binge drinking frequency during a typical two-week semester period. Finally, students were asked to detail their interactions with faculty, student affairs professionals, and peers. The interaction scales measured the quality of personal relationships with peers (α=.85); frequency of contact with faculty (α=.80); quality of nonclassroom relationships with faculty (α=.86); frequency of contact with student affairs professionals (α=.87); and experiences and interactions with diverse others (α=.91). Detailed operational definitions and constituent items for the interaction scales are available by contacting the first author. Four dependent learning outcomes were assessed. The first outcome was student academic performance, defined as semester grade point average, with data provided by the registrar. Student self-reports of the impact of their undergraduate experience on their development in 36 areas formed the basis for the remaining three outcome measures. A factor analysis indicated three underlying factors: development in general/liberal arts competencies (α=.92); development in career/professional preparation (α=.87); and personal/interpersonal development (α=.85). Constituent items and factor loadings for the scales are available by contacting the first author. Since students self-selected to affiliate, analyses attempting to estimate the net effect of fraternity/sorority membership on college engagement and outcomes needed to take important 3

Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Vol. 4, Iss. 2, September 2009 confounding influences into account. As many of these potential confounding influences as possible were taken into account; control variables included retrospectively reported parallel measures for each of the dependent variables with high school as the reference point. Additional controls included sex, race, ACT composite score, high school grades, parental education, graduate degree plans, whether the institution was one’s first choice for college, amount of onand off-campus employment, current place of residence during college, and intended or actual academic major. The possible effects of gender on affiliation and outcome variables were analyzed, as well as for those participants who did and did not binge drink in high school. Data Analyses Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the net relationships between affiliation (vs. being unaffiliated) on all dichotomous college engagement variables and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was used to estimate the same relationships between continuous college engagement and outcome measures. Results High school experiences, even when reported retrospectively, tended to have by far the strongest relationships with college engagement, binge drinking behavior, grades, and perceptions of the impact of participants’ undergraduate experience. Consequently, without controlling for precollege variables, any comparisons between affiliated students and their unaffiliated peers on any self-reports about college learning would likely be confounded in unknown ways (Pascarella, 2001). Thus, results as reported are conservative estimates of the relationships between fraternity/sorority membership, college engagement, and learning outcomes. General Relationships The overall findings suggested affiliated students as a group did not have a discernibly different level of academic engagement than their unaffiliated peers (Table 1, Part A). Accounting for an extensive array of potentially confounding influences, no significant relationship existed between affiliation in both the first and senior years in college and working on a research project with a faculty member, time spent preparing for class, number of books read, number of essay exams completed, and number of term papers/written reports completed. Similarly, fraternity/sorority members in both the first and senior years in college had essentially the same likelihood as their unaffiliated peers of participating in a cultural/social awareness workshop or a debate/lecture on current political or social issues. A dramatically different picture emerged when the estimated relationships between fraternity/sorority members and binge drinking frequency were considered. Taking into account high school alcohol use (plus other influences), affiliated first-year and senior students were significantly more likely to binge drink in college than their unaffiliated peers. Net of confounding influences, the odds of affiliated, first-year students binge drinking one or more times in a typical two-week period were 1.8 times greater than for their unaffiliated peers. For fraternity/sorority seniors, the odds of binge drinking one or more times in a typical two-week period increased to 2.4 times greater than those of unaffiliated seniors. There was also a tendency for affiliated students to be more likely to binge drink at higher levels than other students. The net odds of first-year fraternity/sorority members binge drinking between two and five times in a 4

Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Vol. 4, Iss. 2, September 2009 two-week period were about twice as high as the odds for their unaffiliated peers doing the same. Even more dramatically, the net odds of senior fraternity/sorority members binge drinking twice, three to five times, and six or more times in a two-week period were respectively 3.0, 2.6, and 3.5 times greater than the odds of unaffiliated seniors doing so. Fraternity/sorority members as a group appeared to spend substantially more hours per week participating in co-curricular or extracurricular activities (b=2.359, p