The Link between Greek Involvement and Alcohol Consumption: A Utilization of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Fundamental Influences

Elevated levels of alcohol consumption among college students associated with Greek life are a well-documented occurrence in the United States (Baer, 1994; Capone et al., 2007). Many studies have sought to understand the precise influence(s) responsible for facilitating such inflated amounts of alcohol consumption behaviors. This study utilized the theory of planned behavior in an attempt to ascertain the most salient influences that may be contributing to Greek and non-Greek collegiate alcohol consumption. Specifically, one’s attitudes, perception of acceptable norms, and their perceived level of control over their behaviors were examined in relation to alcohol consumption. An undergraduate collegiate sample (N = 259) was collected from Sewanee: The University of the South, the University of South Carolina, and the online survey service Mturk. The study was administered to participants via online survey. The results of the study confirmed the hypothesis that more involved Greek students consume more alcohol. Additionally, it was found that a participant’s attitude and perceived level of behavioral control was related to their level of alcohol consumption, but the subjective norms component was not found to be a predictor of drinking behavior. Finally, participants’ level of behavioral control was found to be a significant moderator between Greek life and alcohol consumption. Clinical implications of these findings suggest that alcohol intervention programs should focus on bolstering individual’s perceived level of control over their drinking behaviors. Additionally, focusing on altering one’s attitude towards drinking may be TPB, GREEK INVOLVEMENT, AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION 3 beneficial in reducing overall alcohol consumption, as it was shown that those who endorsed more positive attitudes of alcohol consumption drank more heavily. TPB, GREEK INVOLVEMENT, AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION 4 The Link between Greek Involvement and Alcohol Consumption: A Utilization of the Theory of Planned Behavior to Examine Fundamental Influences Alcohol Use and College Students Alcohol misuse is a problem that affects many college campuses worldwide. The National Institute of Health (NIH; 2015) has reported that college drinking is an extremely widespread occurrence, reporting that four out of five college students consume alcohol. Further, it reports that of those who drink alcohol, half engage in binge drinking behavior. Binge drinking is defined as consuming five or more drinks for males and four for females within a two-hour period (NIH, 2015). In fact, the NIH (2015) reported that students have begun to see the overconsumption of alcohol as almost a prerequisite, perhaps ritualistic, aspect synonymous with obtaining a higher education. This type of behavior comes with serious health concerns and is potentially a fatal behavior. Almost 2,000 students a year die from alcohol related incidents, over half a million will suffer an alcohol related injury, and almost 100,000 students under the influence of alcohol are victims of sexual assault (NIH, 2015). Despite these staggering statistics, the over consumption of alcohol continues, and it has been shown that college students outdrink their non-college peers in amount of alcohol consumed (Gfroerer, Greenbalt, & Wright, 1997; O’Malley & Johnston, 2002). It is clear that this is a serious and alarming problem, and one that has prompted many intervention programs intended to curb the alcohol use of incoming freshman and students who have encountered disciplinary actions due to consumption of alcohol. TPB, GREEK INVOLVEMENT, AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION 5 Perhaps a large contributing factor to the elevated statistics regarding general college students’ alcohol consumption is the inclusion of Greek-related college students within this demographic. In a survey of over 3,000 Greek members that belonged to a particular fraternity present in 32 states, it was found that 97% of Greek members use alcohol, 86% were binge drinkers, and 64% of participants were frequent bingers (Caudill et al., 2006). According to McCabe et al. (2005), Greek organizations are social institutions that contain their own sets of initiation rites, rules, and governing bodies. They also often have their own specific housing units for members. Often alcohol is include within the ritualistic nature of certain events, and the private housing aspect also aids in the facilitation of binge drinking behaviors and general over consumption of alcohol (Baer, 1994; Capone, Wood, Borsari, & Laird, 2007; Sher, Bartholow, & Nanda, 2001; Wechsler, Dowdall, Davenport, & Castillo, 1995; Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, & Lee 2000). Wechsler et al. (2000) found that two out of three college students who lived in Greek housing were binge drinkers. Additionally, they found that those who were not binge drinkers but lived in Greek housing were among the highest at risk to suffer negative secondhand effects of binge drinking, such as being awakened at night, having to take care of a drunk student/friend, or being in a confrontation with another (Wechsler et al., 2000). This suggests a strong link between environment and behavior, as those who live in Greek housing had the highest ratio of binge drinkers when compared to other college housing demographics (Wechsler et al., 2000). These findings could also arise from the inherent nature of Greek-only housing itself, where the environment is less regulated than the on-campus, dormitory style housing units. With all of this in mind, it would be irresponsible to state that Greek drinking behaviors are influenced solely by the TPB, GREEK INVOLVEMENT, AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION 6 influences of one’s immediate surroundings. Though this has been shown to be a strong contributing factor, other avenues of influence should be considered. Greek Students and Salient Influences on Alcohol Consumption When considering the alcohol consumption patterns of Greek involved college students, it is of paramount importance to review sources of social influence. There are many different socially focused components within addiction literature that seek to explain the underlying function of alcohol use and abuse, such as normative perceptions, important referents, modeling, and socialization. Normative perceptions are comprised of descriptive and injunctive norms and play a large role in determining alcohol use behaviors. According to Borsari and Carey (2003), descriptive norms refer to the perception that an individual has regarding how often others engage in a particular activity. Alternatively, injunctive norms refer to the amount of alcohol consumption that an individual considers to be acceptable. As such, this takes more into consideration the rules of a certain society and what is considered morally appropriate in regards to one’s own behavior. Injunctive norms can be formed on a smaller scale than simply society as a whole, as perceptions about acceptable behaviors can form in respect to a specific peer group (Borsari & Carey, 2003). These normative perceptions deal heavily with matters concerning one’s peer group. As such, these peer groups themselves can be seen to be a hugely influential factor in determining one’s behaviors (Petraitis, Flay, & Miller, 1995). Without the existence of important peer group referents, these norms would likely cease to hold as much sway over behavior determination as they do. It is described in social learning theory (SLT) how the behavior of important referents through the process of modeling can have TPB, GREEK INVOLVEMENT, AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION 7 significant influence on an individual’s behavior (Bandura, 1963). When adolescents see individuals that are important to them (such as their parents) engaging in behaviors like unwinding after a long day at work by having a drink, positive associations are formed between that behavior and its outcome. This example is explained by the results of one study (Ary, Tildesley, Hops, & Andrews, 1993) that examined modeling effects of parents on adolescent drinking behaviors. It was found that this type of relaxation, or similar attitudes displayed as positivity towards alcohol consumption, could have an effect on children’s alcohol consumption patterns later in life (Ary et al., 1993). These sets of expectancies would be particularly salient as it was an important person that modeled this behavior. This same concept applies to peer groups and norms as well (Petraitis et al., 1995). These results on modeling, peer groups, and expectancies are consistent with a large field of research that suggests that Greek members have higher rates of norm misappraisal, which subsequently influences their alcohol consumption rates (Baer, 1994; Baer, Stacy, & Larimer, 1991; Borsari & Carey, 2001; 2003; 2006; Perkins, 2002; Sher, Bartholow, & Nanda, 2001). In a study conducted by Baer et al. (1991), several groups of students and their perceptions of the amounts of alcohol their friends consumed were measured via a drinking norms questionnaire. The researchers found that all groups of college students had significantly exaggerated perceptions of how much alcohol (in frequency and amount) peers within their friend groups consumed, known as biased descriptive norms. Furthermore, it was found that participants belonging to a Greek organization had the most biased results out of all participant groups tested (Baer et al., 1991). TPB, GREEK INVOLVEMENT, AND ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION 8 The results found by Baer et al. (1992) are further bolstered by a study conducted by Larimer et al. (2004) that examined the attitudes towards alcohol consumption of 582 Greek affiliated participants. These attitudes were measured to see if they had an influence on participants’ drinking behavior. What the researchers found was congruent with the results from the study described above: the Greek students had inflated and inaccurate perceptions of descriptive norms. They also found that the participants ha