Elsevier

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Volume 47, Issue 3, 25 September 1997, Pages 237-246
Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Differences in alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among fraternity and sorority members

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-8716(97)00096-3Get rights and content

Abstract

This study examined gender differences in alcohol consumption and problem behaviors among fraternity and sorority college students. Males were more likely to drink 13+ drinks at one time; females were more likely to drink 1–3, 4–6, and 7–12 drinks. Females experienced more problems at the 4–6 level; numbers of problems experienced were approximately equal at the 7–12 and 13+ levels. The correlation between consumption and problems was stronger for females (r=0.58) than for males (r=0.42). Problem behaviors might be due to individual differences or environmental forces acting upon individuals. Longitudinal studies should investigate possible causal pathways to inform the design of interventions for this at-risk population.

Introduction

National studies of alcohol use by college students indicate considerable use of alcohol occurring in the population. In the Wechsler et al. (1994)survey of over 17 000 undergraduates from 140 colleges across the US, approximately 16% of students were non-drinkers, 41% were non-binge drinkers, and 44% were binge drinkers (defined as males who consumed five or more drinks in a row or females who consumed four or more drinks in a row at least once during the two weeks prior to the survey). About half of the binge drinkers had binged three or more times in the past two weeks.

As might be expected, college students generally surpass their non-college peers in alcohol consumption. Survey data from the 1994 Monitoring the Future Study (Johnston et al., 1996) show that while college and non-college students report identical lifetime prevalence rates (88%), college students report greater past year (83 versus 80%), past thirty day (68 versus 62%), and daily (3.6 versus 3.2%) drinking. Binge drinking, defined here as having five or more drinks on one occasion during the past two weeks regardless of gender, also was greater among college than noncollege students (40 versus 34%, respectively). Gfroerer et al. (1997)found variation in alcohol use patterns among college students, with college students consuming more alcohol in the past month than non-college students, but not surpassing them in binge drinking (using the non-gender specific `5 or more drinks in a row' definition).

Membership in a Greek organization has an important influence on alcohol consumption and attitudes about alcohol. Fraternity and sorority members are more likely to hold positive attitudes toward alcohol consumption, and believe in the social lubricant effects of alcohol (e.g. it is easier to meet new people if you drink, people who drink have more fun than people who don't) (Klein, 1992). They have significantly higher quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption (Canterbury et al., 1992; Engs and Hanson, 1985; Globetti et al., 1988; Haworth-Hoeppner et al., 1989; Wechsler et al., 1995a), as well as less perceived risk for heavy consumption of alcohol (Tampke, 1990). Students who live in fraternity or sorority houses are more likely to drink, to binge drink, and to have experienced complications as a result of alcohol consumption (Baer et al., 1995; Globetti et al., 1988; Klein, 1992; Wechsler et al., 1995a). Interestingly, students who are merely planning to join a fraternity or sorority drink more than students who have no such intention (Schall et al., 1992).

Just as differences in alcohol consumption have been documented between Greek and non-Greek students, so too have differences been documented between male and female students. Studies consistently show that males drink more than females, both in college and in the general population (Baer et al., 1995; Engs and Hanson, 1990; Johnston et al., 1996). Monitoring the Future data from the 1994 survey (Johnston et al., 1996) show that males had greater past year (85.6 versus 81.9%), past 30 day (74.8 versus 61.8%) and daily (6.7 versus 2.1%) use than females. They were more likely to binge drink as well (43.4 versus 22.6%). The data from the Wechsler et al. (1994)study show that 15% of male and 16% of female students were nondrinkers; 35% of male and 45% of female students were nonbinge drinkers; and 50% of male and 39% of female were binge drinkers (using the gender-specific definition of binging, males ≥5 drinks; females ≥4 drinks).

Although males continue to `outdrink' females, some researchers recently have begun to notice that the gap between the percentage of male and female drinkers has been narrowing (Engs and Hanson, 1990; Johnston et al., 1996). Increases in the percentage of women who drink, and the quantity and frequency with which they drink, might be attributable to relatively recent societal changes which have attempted to promote gender equity. Such changes pave the way not only for women to have access to formerly masculine-dominated environments, but also allow them greater degrees of behavioral flexibility, with behavior that was formerly deemed inappropriate no longer being sanctioned and perhaps even being facilitated.

This narrowing gap becomes all the more serious when physiological differences between men and women are considered. Research has shown that differences in body size and metabolism of alcohol may make women more susceptible to the effects of alcohol (reviewed in Thomasson, 1995). Therefore, although men do drink more than women, comparison of gross alcohol intake can be misleading because of these physiological differences. Schall et al. (1992)found that correcting for weight differences reduced but did not remove gender differences in alcohol consumption. Whereas consumption was 130% greater for men than women using gross amount consumed, it was still 78% greater when body weight was controlled. Dawson and Archer (1992)found that alcohol consumption was 106% greater for men than women using gross amount consumed, but decreased to 53% greater when body weight was controlled. Further, when they accounted for body water (males typically have a greater percentage of water in their bodies, given less percent body fat than females), the ratio decreased even more, with males consuming only 38% more than females.

Not surprisingly, college students tend to experience a variety of problems related to their alcohol consumption. Well-documented problems include negative physical effects (e.g. hangovers, vomiting, injuries to self or others), criminal or delinquent behavior (e.g. property damage, drinking/driving, fighting), relationship troubles (e.g. arguments with friends, troubled romantic relationships), and academic difficulties (e.g. missed class, poor grades, behind in school work). Results of the Wechsler et al. (1994)survey revealed significant differences between nonbinge, infrequent binge, and frequent binge drinkers for experiencing problems such as missing a class, arguing with friends, having unplanned sex, not practising safer sex, doing something regretful, getting hurt or injured, and getting into trouble with police. Frequent binge drinkers were 25 times more likely than nonbinge drinkers to experience five or more of these problems, and the infrequent binge drinkers were five times more likely than nonbinge drinkers to experience five or more problems.

Differences in the effects of alcohol consumption on problem behaviors for males and females is important to consider. Overall, male students tend to experience a higher percentage of problems related to their drinking than females (Engs and Hanson, 1990). When comparing students with similar drinking levels, however, these differences may be reduced. Wechsler et al. (1995b)argue strongly for a gender-specific definition of binge drinking based on differences in problems experienced by males and females after drinking the same or different amounts of alcohol. That is, when comparing problems experienced after consuming five drinks, the researchers found that women were more likely to experience a hangover, miss a class, get behind in school work, do something they regretted, or forget where they were or what they did. When they compared women drinking four drinks to men drinking five drinks, however, all but one of these differences (hangover) disappeared. Males were more likely than females, however, to damage property or get into trouble with campus police (Wechsler et al., 1994).

An especially important problem related to alcohol use is putting oneself in a situation involving risky sexual behavior. Wechsler et al. (1994)looked at differences among nonbinge, infrequent binge and frequent binge drinkers in engaging in unplanned sex and not using protection. They found that 8% of nonbinge drinkers, 20% of infrequent binge drinkers and 41% of frequent binge drinkers reported engaging in unplanned sexual activity, and that 4% of nonbinge drinkers, 10% of infrequent binge drinkers and 22% of frequent binge drinkers reported not using protection while having sex. Differences between male and female binge drinkers were not statistically significant (Wechsler et al., 1995b).

Focus group research by Emery et al. (1993)revealed that both males and females used alcohol to improve their ability to socialize or decrease their fears of being inadequate socially. An important component of socializing was sexual behavior. Men reported drinking to increase their sexual confidence. Women, however, reported drinking to either justify their sexual behavior or reduce responsibility for it. In a study using hypothetical situations to determine how sexual decision-making is influenced by alcohol consumption, Leigh and Aramburu (1996)found that women in drinking scenarios were more likely to have sex with protection while women in non-drinking scenarios were more likely to not have sex. Men were equally likely to have sex regardless of alcohol consumption, and were marginally less likely to use protection if they had been drinking. All of this research points to the influence of alcohol consumption on promoting sexual encounters and decreasing the likelihood of engaging in safer sex.

Given the excessive amounts of drinking in this population and the concomitant problems experienced, it is interesting to note that most of the problem drinkers do not perceive they have a problem with alcohol. Wechsler et al. (1995b)found that among frequent binge drinkers, 78% of males and 91% of females did not describe themselves as heavy or problem drinkers. This held whether the campus was defined as a low-binge, medium-binge or high-binge school (based on percentage of binge drinkers in the population).

The implications of all of these findings are serious, of course. If females are beginning to `catch up' with males in terms of alcohol consumption, but if they tend to experience alcohol related problems at lower levels of alcohol consumption, there is a distinct possibility that they will experience more alcohol-related problems as their alcohol consumption approaches and even exceeds that of males. The purpose of the study reported here is to investigate that possibility using data gathered from fraternity and sorority members.

Section snippets

Method

As part of a study to evaluate the effectiveness of an alcohol-risk reduction program, 1342 sorority and fraternity members were surveyed across five public universities in three midwestern states (Ohio, Indiana, Kansas). Four of the universities were moderately large (approximately 20 000); one university was relatively small (approximately 4000). Arrangements had been made between the national organizations of one fraternity and two sororities and the program's developers to implement the

Participant characteristics

The sample consisted of 381 males and 961 females. Caucasian respondents composed 98% of the sample, 0.1% was African-American, 0.6% was Hispanic, 0.3% was Asian, 0.3% was Native American, and 0.7% was of another race. Respondents were most frequently sophomores (31.7%), followed by juniors (28%), freshman (23.7%), and seniors (16.6%) (percentages of males and females did not differ across sophomore, junior or senior years; however, there were more females than males in the freshman year (z

Discussion

This study, like others before it, found that fraternity members drink alcohol in greater quantities than do sorority members. As shown in Table 1, 69.1% of the males drank at the highest peak level (13 or more) compared to 15.8% of the females. However, the relatively high percentages of females drinking at the 7–12 and 4–6 peak levels (31.0 and 32.0%, respectively) suggest that females may be catching up to males in terms of quantity of alcohol consumed, at least in the sorority and

Conclusions

Results from this and other recent studies suggest that college students, especially fraternity and sorority members, are drinking more and experiencing more alcohol-related problems. Our study found that some fraternity and sorority members are beginning to express concerns that they might become alcoholics; most other researchers who ask this question, however, find that students are relatively unconcerned about that possibility. Regardless of whether or not they are concerned, they clearly

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse grant DA-05312.

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