How fraternities risk and benefit college student health

Social fraternities are a traditional fixture on college campuses, and the organizations can positively impact members—encouraging community service and offering social and career benefits—but they can also promote heavy drinking, sexual assault and hazing.

A recently published report from the Jed Foundation (JED) identifies the mental health benefits of membership for fraternity men and how some of the negative associations around fraternity life—including alcohol and substance use and higher rates of sexual assault—can be harmful to members and the general campus community.

The report offers eight recommendations to improve the health and wellness of fraternity members, including creating access to resources, leveraging alumni connections, developing a crisis-management plan and reducing shame around help-seeking.

The findings: JED’s research team identified five key themes in their research around fraternities and well-being on college campuses.

1. Fraternities can create a sense of belonging and help members establish stronger social networks.

Greek life participants have higher levels of positive mental health, according to one study, stemming from sense of belonging and connectedness organizations can create. Culturally based fraternities and sororities, including Black Greek-letter fraternities, Latino fraternities and Latina sororities, and Jewish fraternities, also provide identity affirmation and create shared cultural connection among members.

Fraternity membership is linked with greater involvement in and satisfaction with campus life, engagement in volunteering or participation in student government, increased likelihood of pursuing a graduate degree and postbaccalaureate outcomes.

2. Fraternities are linked with lower mental health concerns.

The report theorizes that the benefits of fraternity membership may help protect members’ mental health or buffer challenges. Healthy Minds Survey (HMS) data found fraternity members were less likely to report depression, anxiety, nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal ideation compared to the larger population.

Similarly, data from the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) showed fraternity members, compared to their peers, were less likely to report feeling hopeless, lonely, sad and depressed.

However, rates of mental health challenges among members were still concerning, researchers wrote, with one in three reporting depression symptoms, around 22 percent reporting anxiety and 12 percent reporting suicidal ideation.

While both sorority and fraternity members were more aware of mental health services on their campus compared to nonmembers, fraternity members were less likely to use resources compared to sorority members.

3. Alcohol and substance misuse are common in some fraternity settings and pose threats to well-being for all students.

NCHA and HMS data both show fraternity members are more likely to report higher rates of substance use compared to nonmembers, with more than 87 percent of fraternity members reporting binge drinking (five or more drinks), 23 percentage points higher than non–fraternity members.

Fraternity members are also less likely to use alcohol safety measures, particularly measures that restrict consumption such as avoiding drinking games, choosing not to drink or pacing drinks to fewer than one per hour.

Students who drink or use drugs with fraternity members may also feel social pressures or perceptions of norms around substance use, even if those norms may not be true.

The social benefits of fraternities often are less prominent after students graduate, but their substance use habits may continue; fraternity alumni are more likely to report alcohol overconsumption after leaving college, and fraternity membership is associated with earlier death compared to their peers.

4. Fraternity members are more likely to commit sexual harassment and assault.

Past research shows fraternity men and student athletes are significantly more likely to commit alcohol-involved sexual assault than other men on campus, and sexual assault perpetration happens at higher rates among fraternity members compared to their nonmember peers.

The factors that contribute to this trend may be tied in part to alcohol and party culture, as many of these instances involve alcohol, but social and psychological factors, including harmful beliefs about masculinity and inclinations toward sexual aggression, may also increase these risks.

“Fraternities that encourage traditional masculine ideals promote hypermasculine attitudes and disinhibition, while also reinforcing norms that lead to objectifying women, endorsing rape myths, and engaging in sexual deception more often than their non-fraternity peers,” according to the study.

Victims of sexual assault are less likely to complete college and often face long-term mental health challenges, posing a risk for the greater campus community and sorority women in particular, who are highly likely to date members of fraternities.

Sorority members were more likely to report emotional abuse, being touched sexually without consent, being stalked or being a victim of sexual assault in the past 12 months compared to their nonmember female peers.

“These conditions, in turn, are related to increased mental health risk for the sorority members who experience them, our data shows, especially chronic hopelessness, being overwhelmed, exhaustion, loneliness, sadness, depression, anxiety, nonsuicidal self-injury and anger,” according to the report. “Same-gender dating within fraternities may have similarly harmful effects.”

5. Nonmembers value fraternities in promoting campus social life but also see risks to well-being of the community.

A JED survey of college students who attend a college with sorority and fraternity organizations found students who participate in Greek organizations are more likely to see the social and well-being benefits of fraternity and sorority membership, compared to their nonmember peers. However, 66 percent of nonmembers agree that their school’s social life is at least somewhat dependent on fraternity and sorority life.

“Not surprisingly, the dominant association with fraternities—and the area in which there were a variety of concerning reports—revolves around fraternity parties and other social events,” researchers wrote.

Half of respondents believe that students at their institution are frequently involved in concerning or uncomfortable incidents at fraternity-affiliated parties, and women respondents were more likely to associate fraternities with sexual harassment and racism, compared to their male peers.

Students who attend parties, both Greek-affiliated and not, reported seeing more concerning incidents at fraternity and sorority parties. Incidents include those related to sexual harassment, fights, hazing, sexual assault, racial bias, nonconsensual drug use or incidents requiring hospitalization.

Recommendations: Based on the research available and trends indicated in student survey data, researchers recommend administrators and other leaders in this work:

• Make mental health programming a priority. Colleges can create an organizational priority around mental health and designate an individual to lead this work, serving as a point person for chapter-level questions and assisting with local and national resource identification. Establishing norms and messaging across Greek life can help in this effort.
• Affirm and improve upon what is working. Fraternities, as demonstrated, can promote students’ sense of belonging and connection, so practitioners should build on this strength, normalizing conservations about mental health and helping equip students to support each other in their well-being.
• Address clear challenges to mental health. College leaders should raise awareness about how substance misuse, hazing and norms related to exploitative sexual behavior contribute to negative mental health through proactive education, creating clear consequences for violations of behavioral regulations and surveying chapters to understand the prevalence of these issues. Environmental-level strategies, such as creating substance-free or dry chapter facilities and activities, can also mitigate the prevalence of alcohol on campus.
• Work to reduce shame and secrecy around help-seeking. A lack of resource utilization among fraternity members indicates levels of shame or negative attitudes toward receiving help, so providing leadership training on mental health, implementing regular educational workshops and creating peer support networks can help ensure students take advantage of mental health supports when they need it.
• Enhance self-awareness, capacity for vulnerability and opportunities for self-care. Fraternity men can struggle with emotional intelligence and some coping skills, so providing opportunities for them to practice empathy, try therapy or participate in self-care can help improve their mental health and how they engage with other members of the campus community.
• Develop and follow crisis-management procedures. Fraternity organizations should be prepared to address incidents that threaten student safety and mental health through developing a crisis-response protocol and making sure members are aware of crisis service providers.
• Make it easy to access resources. College and fraternity leaders can partner to ensure members are aware of key resources available by creating a resource guide or inviting counseling teams to engage with members.
• Educate and enable alumni to support members. Alumni can play a key role in supporting students through mentorship, staying informed about mental health and encouraging open communication about mental health.

Do you have a wellness tip that might help others encourage student success? Tell us about it.