Social Fraternities Research Articles

Recall and Recognition of Fraternal Values and Person–Organization Fit for Members of Men’s College Social Fraternities

The purpose of the present quantitative study was to examine the recall and recognition of espoused values of undergraduate fraternity members and measures of person–organization fit. The results of this study will help researchers and fraternity professionals best understand the extent to which values are being retained in a cognitive way (espoused) and the relationship to values congruence between members and their fraternity. Benefits to members can result from any programming related values-based initiatives that can be developed as a result of study findings as well as improved assessment of values congruence in fraternal organizations.

Will Anything Change? Examining Historically White Fraternity Members' Development of Openness to Diversity in Contemporary Times.

Scholars have identified that openness to diversity is a vital student outcome for higher education. Interest in this outcome has only intensified in recent years because of increased attention to, and unrest related to, social injustices. Using longitudinal data from 3420 undergraduate members of historically white college men's social fraternities located at 134 higher education institutions in the United States, this study examined factors that influenced the development of openness to diversity and change (ODC) amongst fraternity members from the 2019-2020 to 2020-2021 academic years. Our findings revealed that individual and institutional-level political and social involvement, and individual and institutional-level conceptualizations of fraternal brotherhood (e.g., brotherhood based on belonging) were associated with ODC during the 2020-2021 academic year. Though historically white college men's fraternities have often perpetuated exclusionary environments both in historical and contemporary times, the study results suggest that political and social involvement and participation in fraternities that emphasize belonging and accountability may contribute to college men's ODC. We urge scholars and practitioners to have more nuanced understandings of fraternities, while simultaneously challenging fraternities to put their values into actions and to deconstruct the legacies of exclusion that exist within these organizations.

Curricular and co-curricular activities associated with organizational values as identified by members of men's college social fraternities

T his study sought to examine curricular and co-curricular activities associated with organizational values and their contribution to a holistic development process for fraternity men. Few previous studies have focused on this relationship for social fraternities. 423 undergraduate fraternity members examined the identification of curricular and co-curricular activities that were associated with their fraternity’s values. This study examined the espoused and enacted values that fraternity members associate with curricular and co-curricular activities. Values were examined using four universal themes (openness to change, self-transcendence, conservation, and self-enhancement). A discussion is included based on findings related to values and associated activities. Implications for greater emphasis on values development through curricular and co-curricular activities and recommendations for further research, particularly for the openness to change value type, are included.

Neoliberalizing markedness

For students at elite US liberal arts colleges, symbolic capital accrues to their association with the institution itself, and for racially unmarked (white) students, symbolic capital can also accrue to other, informal associations with such institutions, such as friend and family ties or social fraternities. For racially marked students at elite schools, sources of symbolic capital are more limited to institutional venues such as the classroom and official school organizations. They are under pressure to act as good campus citizens, to “bring diversity” as “campus leaders,” enacting a combination of institutional pride and neoliberal values as key aspects of their “diversity.” This is particularly the case for students whose educations are provided through the Posse Foundation, which recruits and promotes “diverse” students explicitly as “leaders” and “change agents.” Such students are subject to neoliberal interpellation (hailed to enact a specific subjectivity) in ways that unmarked students are not because their options for an acceptable racial subjectivity is limited to a narrow range of social performance. In this way, neoliberal subjectivity can exacerbate racial markedness.

What Affects College Students? A Look at GPA, Leadership Skills, and Overall Happiness of UNCA Students

This study looks at what variables affect a student’s GPA, leadership skills, and overall happiness at UNCA. A particular variable that is examined is if a student belongs to a social fraternity or sorority on campus. This study was conducted through use of a survey, given to twelve different classes of Humanities students and to members of social fraternities and sororities that were willing to participate on campus. Regression was done on the data to find the significant variables that affected GPA, leadership skills, and overall happiness of students. The Greek students tended to fare better in many of the variables than the non-Greek students. The results of this survey show that being part of a social fraternity or sorority can have numerous positive effects on the college experience of the UNCA student.

Trends in medical use, diversion, and nonmedical use of prescription medications among college students from 2003 to 2013: Connecting the dots

ObjectivesTo examine trends in the lifetime and past-year prevalence of medical use, diversion, and nonmedical use of four prescription medication classes (i.e., sedative/anxiety, opioid, sleeping, and stimulant) among college students between 2003 and 2013; and to identify demographic and background characteristics associated with trends in past-year nonmedical use of prescription medications. MethodsA self-administered, cross-sectional Web survey was conducted in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013 at a large public four-year university in the Midwest United States. ResultsApproximately one in every five individuals reported nonmedical use of at least one prescription medication class in their lifetime. The past-year prevalence of medical use, diversion and nonmedical use of prescription stimulants increased significantly between 2003 and 2013 while the past-year prevalence of medical use, diversion and nonmedical use of prescription opioids decreased significantly over this same time period. The odds of past-year nonmedical use of each prescription medication class were generally greater among males, Whites, members of social fraternities and sororities, and those with a lifetime history of medical use of prescription medications or a past-year history of being approached to divert their prescription medications. ConclusionsThe present study represents the first investigation to demonstrate that trends in medical use of controlled medications parallel changes in diversion and nonmedical use of the same medication class among college students. The findings reinforce the importance of continued monitoring of prescription medication use at colleges to help guide prevention and intervention efforts.

How Well Do Men’s Faces and Voices Index Mate Quality and Dominance?

Previous studies have used self-ratings or strangers' ratings to assess men's attractiveness and dominance, attributes that have likely affected men's access to mates throughout human evolution. However, attractiveness and dominance include more than isolated impressions; they incorporate knowledge gained through social interaction. We tested whether dominance and attractiveness assessed by acquaintances can be predicted from (1) strangers' ratings made from facial photographs and vocal clips and (2) self-ratings. Two university social fraternities, their socially affiliated sororities, and independent raters evaluated men's short- and long-term attractiveness, fighting ability, and leadership ability. Ratings made by unfamiliar men using faces, but not voices, predicted acquaintance-rated fighting and leadership ability, whereas ratings made by unfamiliar women from faces and voices predicted acquaintance-rated short- and long-term attractiveness. Except for leadership, self-ratings aligned with peers' evaluations. These findings support the conclusion that faces and voices provide valuable information about dominance and mate quality.

Quantifying the strength and form of sexual selection on men's traits

Although recent research has increasingly focused on human sexual selection, fundamental questions remain concerning the relative influence of individual traits on success in competition for mates and the mechanisms, form, and direction of these sexual selective pressures. Here, we explore sexual selection on men's traits by ascertaining men's dominance and attractiveness from male and female acquaintances. On a large American university campus, 63 men from two social fraternities provided anthropometric measurements, facial photographs, voice recordings, and reported mating success (number of sexual partners). These men also assessed each other's dominance, and 72 women from two socially affiliated sororities assessed the men's attractiveness. We measured facial masculinity from inter-landmark distances and vocal masculinity from acoustic parameters. We additionally obtained facial and vocal attractiveness and dominance ratings from unfamiliar observers. Results indicate that dominance and the traits associated with it predict men's mating success, but attractiveness and the traits associated with it do not. These findings point to the salience of contest competition on men's mating success in this population.

“Under These Classic Shades Together”:

cross American colleges and universities during the late antebellum period, young men associated outside the classroom in literary, social, and fraternal clubs, all-male spaces highly conducive to the formation of strong friendships. Strong male relationships developed in which such terms as “intimacy,” “fraternal love,” and the “after life” were fundamental tenets of a shared experience. Unlike the collective world found in the public sphere of adult men, the antebellum college setting differed precisely because the young men quite frequently lived and dined together in dormitories, boarding and rooming houses, and fraternities, often secretly organized, in the towns and cities in which their colleges were located. Their lives were marked by dynamic uncertainty: not yet fully independent adults, but no longer completely dependent for support on their families. Since at least the 1970s, historians have debated the possibilities of same-sex intimacy among women, the terms of which have often centered on their timing and their prevalence in early American society. Only recently, however, have men as gendered subjects A

Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use Among US College Students at a Midwest University: A Partial Test of Social Learning Theory

We estimate the prevalence of nonmedical prescription drug (NMPD) use and test social learning theory as an explanation for NMPD use based upon data from a large pilot study. Data were collected from 465 college students at a Midwestern university in the USA using a self-administered questionnaire. The sample was predominantly white (88%), 43% were female and the mean age was 22. Most participants (80%) were not members of social fraternities or sororities. A majority of students did not report NMPD use: 39.4% of respondents reported lifetime NMPD use, 31% reported past-year use, and 14.4% reported past-month use. Multivariate regression results partially supported social learning theory as an explanation for lifetime NMPD use. Limitations and suggestions for future research are suggested.

Toward a Gendered Social Bond/Male Peer Support Theory of University Woman Abuse

Despite many calls for integrated woman abuse theories, few have made any such attempts. Taking as a starting point that gender blind and conservative theories may still have some value, Hirschi's social bond theory is examined with insights from feminist male peer support theory and other critical perspectives. The goal is not a formal new theory but rather a heuristic designed to show the value of adding feminist insight to gender blind theory. Hirschi is turned upside down here with an argument that attachment and involvement with conven- tional peers may in fact promulgate violence against women on college campuses when it is noted that conventional institutions are patriarchal and part of a rape culture. University groups (social fraternities, sports teams, etc.) may enforce adherence through homophobia and group pressure, while promoting a hypermasculine culture that encourages men to use coercion and force to increase their count of sexual encounters.

BRINGING WOMEN IN, KEEPING WOMEN DOWN

Little sister organizations are groups of women who are affiliated with men's social fraternities on college and university campuses in the United States. This study analyzes the structures and dynamics of these groups with attention to how they reflect, create, and institutionalize gender inequality. The data come from participant observation, open-ended depth interviews, official reports and documents, newspaper articles, and a survey of 110 undergraduates. The authors interviewed 17 women who were little sisters, 7 other students, and 13 campus officials and engaged in participant observation at fraternity parties and little sister events, primarily in five public universities in the Southeast. They conclude that little sister groups encourage women's subordination to, exploitation by, and dependence on, men.

Looking Back to Beaver and the Head: Male College Nicknames in the 1950s

AbstractStudies of nicknames have neglected social fraternities, and most have been done by outsiders unable to assess the feelings of those who bear nicknames. I questioned members of a social fraternity to which I belonged in the late 1950s to find out how men felt about their nicknames then and now. Nicknames were found to be either endearing or critical, functioning as social controls.

Communication of Alcohol Facts and Hazards by a Warning Poster

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether a warning poster would effectively convey alcohol-related information to college students. In experiment 1, a warning poster containing alcohol facts was posted at several social fraternities. Students’ knowledge of alcohol hazards increased after exposure to the warning, though much of the information was already known. In experiment 2, the poster was refined and included less-well-known facts. Students knowledge increased after exposure to the poster. These results show that posted warnings can effectively communicate important information to one “at-risk” group, college students. Suggestions for improvement and potential utility for other groups at risk are discussed.

Social Fraternities and Sororities Are Not Conducive to the Educational Process

The author discusses the role of higher education in determining the values of students, and how that role is undermined by the way colleges and universities deal with fraternities and sororities.

Social introversion and spatial abilities

A study was conducted to examine the association between the personality trait social introversion, measured by peer ratings, and performance on a test of spatial reasoning, the Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. The subjects were 63 men from social fraternities at a state university. Social introversion and performance on the Block Design test correlated r =.72, p <.001, indicating a substantial association between these seemingly dissimilar measures of performance. Inasmuch as both variables have high heritability coefficients, it is possible they have a common genetic influence.

California psychological inventory profiles of peer-nominated assertives, unassertives, and aggressives.

Examined the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) profiles of peer-nominated assertives , unassertives , and aggressives . Eighty males from two social fraternities peer-nominated assertives , unassertives and aggressives . The nomination procedure yielded 12 nominees per group. A profile analysis of the CPI indicated that assertives and aggressives were significantly more similar than were assertives and unassertives , and unassertives and aggressives . Results of a subscale analysis indicated that assertives and aggressives were significantly higher on Dominance, Capacity for Status, Sociability, and Social Presence than Unassertives , but were not significantly different from each other on these subscales. Also, assertives were significantly higher on Socialization, Self-Control, and Achievement via Conformance than were aggressives . Finally, assertives were significantly higher on Achievement via Conformance than were unassertives and aggressives . Implications are discussed.

Democratic organization: A preliminary mathematical model

This paper constitutes a first attempt to examine the decision-making process of the charitable, professional, athletic, social and other organizations (nonpolitical) that are found throughout American society. This exposition may elucidate the fundamental reasons for the success of some and the failures of others. For any organization to continue in operation an objective criterion must be met: the group must satisfy its members and must be more competent, in the long run, than competing or inimical groups. Groups can be directed by one man, by a committee appointed by some outsider, by self-perpetuating committees, by single individuals elected by the vote of the entire membership, by individuals elected by a qualified fraction of the membership, or by some combination of these methods. The idealized mathematical model proposed below applies solely to groups whose members associate voluntarily. Thus it is assumed that the failure to obtain favorable results will end in the dissolution, or demise, of the organization because the members will drop out. Such groups might include technical and professional organizations, P-TAs, social fraternities, service clubs, credit unions and fraternal organizations. Not included are labor unions that rely on compulsory membership, based on Federal or State laws, and coercive picket lines to gain and hold members (Olson, 1965, p. 75).

Management skill in student organizations

Seventy‐two social fraternities were studied to discover some reasons for the variation in the degree of success attained by these student organizations on a college campus. The specific factors studied were management practices that could be employed by the groups. Analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between success as a fraternity and the use of certain management practices, and it identified several individual practices or characteristics highly associated with more successful groups. This article proposes that student organizations would find such practices influential in their future survival and success.

The Universality of Management

In a study of 72 social fraternities, the author found that there was a significant positive relationship between the degree to which these organizations used selected managerial practices and the ...