High-Risk Drinking Among College Fraternity Members: A National Perspective

Abstract

This survey, with its 85% response rate, provides an extensive profile of drinking behaviors and predictors of drinking among 3,406 members of one national college fraternity, distributed across 98 chapters in 32 states. Multiple indexes of alcohol consumption measured frequency, quantity, estimated blood alcohol concentration levels (BACs), and related problems. Among all members, 97% were drinkers, 86% binge drinkers, and 64% frequent binge drinkers. On the basis of self-reports concerning the 4 weeks preceding the time of survey, the authors found that members drank on an average of 10.5 days and consumed an average of 81 drinks. Drinkers had an average BAC of 0.10, reaching at least 0.08 on an average of 6 days. These fraternity members appear to be heavier drinkers than previously studied fraternity samples, perhaps because they were more representative and forthright. All 6 preselected demographic attributes of members and 2 chapter characteristics were significantly related to the drinking behaviors and levels of risk, identifying possible targets for preventive interventions.

Social Capital and College Sport: In Search of the Bridging Potential of Intercollegiate Athletics

“…While identifying with athletics is a real and tangible connection to one aspect of the university, it could be that perhaps it's impact may be more in line with the impact of other student programs on campus such as Greek organizations where bonding social capital and sense of community run high. But like Putnam's reference to the dark side of social capital, this bonded community within Greek organizations often reinforces outcomes that run counter to the mission of the overall university, including lacking an openness to diversity (Wells & Corts, 2008) and other prosocial behavior (Caudill et al, 2006). It is, perhaps, that the use of big-time intercollegiate athletics in the United States promotes the bonding among homogeneous networks which results in a significant connection with social capital levels (Clopton & Finch, 2010).…”

Beyond bad behaving brothers: productive performances of masculinities among college fraternity men

“…The body of scholarship that considers gender-related issues in college fraternities focuses mostly on homophobia (Case, Hesp, & Eberly, 2005;DeSantis & Coleman, 2008;Hesp & Brooks, 2009;Rhoads, 1995;Trump & Wallace, 2006), binge drinking and alcohol abuse (Borsari & Carey, 1999;Cashin, Presley, & Meilman, 1998;Caudill et al, 2006;Kuh & Arnold, 1993;Park, Sher, Wood, & Krull, 2009), hazing (Jones, 2004;Kimbrough, 1997;Nuwer, 1999;Sutton, Letzring, Terrell, & Poats, 2000), and sexual violence against women (Bleecker & Murnen, 2005;Boeringer, 1996;Boswell & Spade, 1996;Koss & Gaines, 1993;Menning, 2009;Sanday, 2007). This research is disproportionately focused on predominantly white fraternity chapters at residential colleges and universities.…”

Predictors of Error in Estimates of Blood Alcohol Concentration: A Replication

“…In its original form, the Widmark formula included terms for body weight, body mass, and time as they relate to BAC. The later variations correct for gender differences in the metabolism of alcohol.The continuous eBAC construct has been used as an outcome measure in a number of studies (Alexander and Bowen, 2004;Andersson et al, 2007;Caudill et al, 2000Caudill et al, , 2006Demmel et al, 2004;Handmaker et al, 1999;Hansson et al, 2007; Harding et al, 2001a,b;Kypri et al, , 2007Perkins et al, 2001;Stahlbrandt et al, 2007;Turner et al, 2004;Wilke et al, 2005). Two recent fi eld studies (Clapp et al, 2006;Hustad and Carey, 2005) employed measures of BrAC to estimate the validity of self-reports used to compute eBAC.…”