Sorority Women Research Articles

“Are We Really Not Going to Talk about the Black Girl?”: The Intergroup Racial Attitudes of Senior, White, Sorority Women

Despite the positive effects of cross-racial interactions for students, predominantly White sororities remain segregated. Utilizing focus group methods, this study investigates the racial attitudes of White sorority women to understand the influence of sororities on racial attitudes. Findings revealed that participants in this study minimized race, thought about diversity within context, and perceived barriers to cross-racial interactions. These findings have important implications for campus professionals who work with sorority women.

Feminist Routine Activity Theory and Sexual Assault Victimization: Estimating Risk by Perpetrator Tactic Among Sorority Women

ABSTRACTThe present study investigated sexual assault risk among sorority women enrolled at a Northwestern university. Bivariate comparisons were made between 282 women and demonstrated significant risk for unwanted sex facilitated by verbal coercion, as well as completed rape as a result of threats or force for sorority women compared with nonaffiliates. The subsample of 89 sorority women was then assessed to examine risk factors for sexual assault victimization. Separate multivariate binary logistic regression models were estimated for verbal coercion resulting in unwanted sex, intoxicated sexual assault, and completed rape as a result of threats or force. Results revealed that number of lifetime consensual sex partners was positively and significantly correlated with all three forms of sexual victimization, as was more frequent attendance at weekly coed Greek-sponsored events among sorority women. In addition, sorority women with friends who peer-pressured them to have sex with fraternity men faced increased odds of intoxicated sexual assault compared with counterparts. Implications for prevention and future research are discussed.

Gender conformity, self-objectification, and body image for sorority and nonsorority women: A closer look

ABSTRACTSororities have been identified as placing young women at risk for body image concerns due to a focus on traditional gender role norms and objectification of women. Objective: This study assessed the relationship between conformity to feminine gender role norms, self-objectification, and body image surveillance among undergraduate women. Participants: In a random sample of undergraduates, the authors examined data from sorority and nonsorority women. Methods: In a random sample of undergraduate women, the authors assessed the impact of traditional feminine gender role norms on self-objectification, body image, and feedback regarding physical appearance for sorority and nonsorority undergraduate women. Results: Three linear regressions were conducted, and only conformity to feminine gender role norms contributed significantly in each regression model. Conclusions: Regardless of sorority membership, conformity to feminine gender role norms was found to significantly contribute to increased body consciousness, negative body image, and feedback on physical appearance.

Rape Myth Acceptance: A Comparison of Military Service Academy and Civilian Fraternity and Sorority Students

Although both the military and fraternities have been theorized to be characterized by norms and attitudes that serve to legitimize violence against women, no previous work has examined the potential similarity and differences in rape-supportive beliefs of these 2 environments or the people drawn to them. Further, the belief systems of women within these organizations have received little attention. As such, the current study sought to serve as an initial exploration of the rape-supportive belief systems of people drawn to these groups. Participants were recruited from students entering 2 military service academies (U.S. Military Academy, n = 1,169, 1,003 men, 166 women; U.S. Naval Academy, n = 1,916, 1,551 men, 365 women) and fraternities and sororities at a Midwestern university (n = 393, 188 men, 205 women). All participants completed the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale–Short Form. Consistent with previous findings related to gender, men were more accepting of rape myths than women. Further, there was more variability in the levels of rape myth acceptance among military service academy and fraternity men than among military service academy and sorority women. Although across all groups the women expressed significantly lower levels of rape myth acceptance than the men, women and men from the United States Military Academy were more closely aligned in their beliefs than women and men from the other samples. Implications for sexual assault prevention education are discussed.

Sexual Assault Supportive Attitudes: Rape Myth Acceptance and Token Resistance in Greek and Non-Greek College Students From Two University Samples in the United States.

Colleges are rape-prone cultures with high rates of sexual victimization. Fraternities' and sororities' relationships with sexual assault are consistent themes in literature focusing on sexual violence among college students. Previous research suggests that fraternity men are more likely to endorse rape-supportive attitudes compared with non-Greek men or sorority women. The present study examines rape-supportive attitudes as well as rape and sexual assault victimization in college students with a focus on gender and Greek-life (i.e., involvement in fraternities or sororities) status variables. College students ( N = 1,002) completed a survey including the Token Resistance to Sex Scale (TRSS), Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance Scale-Short Form (IRMA-S), and items related to past experiences of nonconsensual sex. Two regression models tested predictors of token resistance and rape myth acceptance. Chi-square analyses tested between-group differences of experiencing rape and sexual assault. Gender ( p < .001), Greek status ( p < .001), and race/ethnicity ( p < .001) were predictors for TRSS scores. For IRMA scores, gender ( p < .001), Greek status ( p < .001), and race/ethnicity variables ( p < .001) were also significant. Interaction terms revealed that Greek men had higher token resistance and rape myth acceptance than any other group. Chi-square analyses indicate women more frequently report experiences of rape (χ2 = 25.57, df = 1, p < .001) and sexual assault (χ2 = 31.75, df = 1, p < .001). Men report high rates (40.8%) of experiencing sexual assault "because refusing was useless." No differences of victimization rates were found between Greeks and non-Greeks. Gender and sexual scripting theory can help explain gender differences in attitudes and experiences. Greater endorsement of rape myth acceptance and token resistance by Greeks, who influence college party culture, could be contributing to a culture conducive to rape. Findings demonstrate a continued need for interventions focused on shifting sociocultural dynamics (e.g., traditional roles and sexual scripting) on college campuses.

Sorority Affiliation and Sexual Assault Victimization: Assessing Vulnerability Using Path Analysis.

The current research used survey data from 282 college women to investigate the relationship between female Greek membership and sexual assault victimization. Drawing from routine activity theory, low self-control, and social learning theory, this study tested a theoretical model that identified pertinent factors present among sorority environments to determine the relationships between Greek affiliation and sexual assault. Path analyses revealed that sorority women reported consuming more alcohol and with greater frequency, increased risk-taking behavior, delayed assessments of threat and responses to risk, and increased contact with fraternity men-all of which significantly predicted sexual assault. Future theory, research, and policy directions are proposed.

An Examination of the Influence of Ethnic Identity and Parental Attachment on the Body Esteem of Black Sorority Women

The primary goal of the current study was to explore the influence of ethnic identification and parental attachment on the body esteem of Black women who were members of a Black sorority. To date, there has been no published research examining determinants of body image in this population of Black women. The authors hypothesized that ethnic identity and attachment to mother would predict body esteem in this population. One hundred twelve women ( M age 39.3) were surveyed, and hierarchical regression analysis revealed that attachment to mother was a significant predictor of body esteem, especially with regard to physical condition and weight control. The findings from the current study suggest that the mother-daughter relationship remains influential in the development of positive body esteem over the life span.

Testing a Social Cognitive Theory-Based Model of Indoor Tanning: Implications for Skin Cancer Prevention Messages

The lack of a theory-based understanding of indoor tanning is a major impediment to the development of effective messages to prevent or reduce this behavior. This study applied the Comprehensive Indoor Tanning Expectations (CITE) scale in an analysis of indoor tanning behavior among sorority women (total N = 775). Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that CITE positive and negative expectations were robust, multidimensional factors and that a hierarchical structure fit the data well. Social cognitive theory-based structural equation models demonstrated that appearance-oriented variables were significantly associated with outcome expectations. Outcome expectations were, in turn, significantly associated with temptations to tan, intention to tan indoors, and indoor tanning behavior. The implications of these findings for the development of messages to prevent and reduce indoor tanning behavior are discussed in two domains: (a) messages that attempt to change broader societal perceptions about tan skin, and (b) messages that focus more narrowly on indoor tanning—challenging positive expectations, enhancing negative expectations, and encouraging substitution of sunless tanning products.

“Even the Good Girls Have Their Moments”

Director’s Comments: In 2008, I undertook an ethnographic study to better understand how women negotiated competing discourses of femininity within Southern sorority spaces—women-centered, member-only social societies that promote friendship and philanthropy in American colleges and universities. This final manuscript of three, exposes the small post-structural resistances of discursive discipline that sorority women negotiated both overtly and “accidentally” through mis-repeats as they moved from freshman to senior sorority women at USouthern, a large university situated in an active college town in the Southeastern region of the United States. The following three ethno-screenplay scenes are used to reintroduce the discourses of ladylikeness that have already been unpacked in prior articles, and to further develop and explore issues of negotiation and subversion around those discourses.

Anxiety and Disordered Eating

Anxiety and Disordered Eating

Sorority Women’s and Fraternity Men’s Rape Myth Acceptance and Bystander Intervention Attitudes

Sorority women and fraternity men are more likely than other students to be survivors and perpetrators of sexual assault, respectively. The present study examined sorority and fraternity members’ rape myth acceptance, bystander efficacy, and bystander willingness to help in potential sexual assault situations. Sorority women were more rejecting of rape myths and were more willing to intervene than fraternity men. However, no difference in bystander efficacy was found. Implications of this contrast are discussed.

The American sorority girl recast: an ethnographic screenplay of leisure in context

Current research on women in sororities in the US offers only a myopic picture of the culture. The purpose of this post-structural feminist ethnography was to explore American sorority culture as one way to expose the complicated relationships between discourse and gendered performances of self. Using the representational strategy of an ethnographic screenplay, we illustrate how sorority women are constituted in relation to performances of femininity and expectations of appropriate “ladylike” behaviours. In doing so, we highlight the processes of gendered subjectivity and illustrate the ways that women are constituted within discourse within their lived leisure experience.

“Don’t Be a Whore, That’s Not Ladylike”

While multiple and competing understandings of sororities exist in popular culture, academic research on sororities tends to homogenize the experience of sorority women, simplifying their existence to a quantitative understanding of specific behaviors such as those associated with binge drinking, eating disorders, and heterosexuality. Specifically, it ignores processes of discursive discipline that converge to disseminate social expectations, maintain dominant discourse, conceal processes of social control, and limit possibilities for gendered subjectivity. Therefore, in order to provide a more complex understanding of sorority women’s gendered subjectivity and to produce research cognizant of cultural discourse, this study explored sorority women’s experiences through an ethnographic lens informed by poststructural theory. Represented by creative analytic practice as an ethnographic screenplay, this research provides contextualized insight into societal relationships of power and gender as they produce and reproduce specific historical and cultural regimes. In particular, I contextualize the experiences of sorority women, explore the dissemination and discipline of femininity within the sorority, and show how such discipline relates to Foucauldian theorizations.

Poststructural Writerly Representation: Screenplay as Creative Analytic Practice

Based on the need to expand literature on sorority women and explore all women’s negotiations of gendered discourses, I conducted an ethnographic study of a southern sorority grounded in a priori notions of discourse, discipline, subjectivity, and performativity as theorized by Michel Foucault and Judith Butler. The findings of this study were represented through a creative analytic screenplay that illuminated the ways sorority women learned gendered expectations, were disciplined towards compliance, and sometimes resisted or reinterpreted expectations of the dominant discourse of “ladylike.” This manuscript explores the use of the ethnographic screenplay as data representation, specifically focusing on the methods of creating composite characters, content, settings, scenes, and director’s comments. Exploring the use of this creative analytic practice helps to challenge notions of “traditional research” and makes space for “doing representation differently.”

Sorority Participation and Sexual Assault Risk

This study tested the relationship between sexual assault victimization, sorority membership, and participation in a range of sorority activities, using data from a large-sample (N = 779) survey conducted at a midsize public university. A total of 29% of sorority women reported having been sexually assaulted while in college, four times the rate (7%) among nonsorority members. The difference between Greek and non-Greek women remained large even when controls were included for alcohol consumption and attendance at Greek parties where alcohol is served. Among sorority members, participation in social events not involving alcohol correlated negatively with sexual assault, indicating a possible protective effect.

Comparison of Mean Body Mass Index and Frequency of Disordered Eating Behaviors among Minority and Caucasian Sorority Women

Comparison of Mean Body Mass Index and Frequency of Disordered Eating Behaviors among Minority and Caucasian Sorority Women

”What do guys want?” Perceived and desired body shape: results from the Strong Bodies and Strong Minds Unite Sisters! Project

Sorority women may be at risk for unhealthy eating or physical activity behaviors due to discordant body image perceptions. However there is little empirical evidence. The lack of data on perceived body shape ideals, especially among minority sororities, highlights the need for further research. Three hundred and forty of 1,994 members of 4 minority (n = 46 (72%)) and 13 non‐minority (n = 294 (15.6%)) sororities responded to a web‐based survey investigating body shape perception. Participants rated self‐perceived body shape (S), desired body shape (D), and body shape desired by males (DM) using the 9‐item Stunkard figure scale (1983). Thirty‐eight percent of the variability in S was explained by D (r = 0.614; p&lt;0.05). However there was little correlation between S and DM (r = 0.28; p&lt;0.05). Results did not differ by sorority type though the minority sorority sample size was small, possibly affecting power to detect differences. The strong relationship between S and D indicates that sorority women are generally satisfied with their body shape. However, the lack of relationship found between S and DM indicates that sorority women perceive their body shape to be different from what males desire.

Body Objectification, Social Pressure, and Disordered Eating Behavior in College Women: The Role of Sorority Membership

Social pressure to conform to the thin ideal is believed to play a decisive role in the development of eating disorders. In this field study at a college with only sophomore rush, 99 sorority women, 80 nonsorority women past their first year, and 86 first-year women completed three subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 ( Garner, 1991 ), the Objectified Body Consciousness Scale ( McKinley &amp; Hyde, 1996 ), and a measure of peer social pressure. It was hypothesized that women belonging to sororities as well as those who intended to join would score higher than nonsorority and first-year women with no intention to join on these measures of disordered eating, body objectification, and social pressure. It also was predicted that the amount of time spent living in a sorority house as well as degree of social pressure would correlate positively with higher scores on body objectification and disordered eating. Results supported nearly all hypotheses, suggesting both that sororities attract at-risk women and that living in a sorority house is associated with increased likelihood of disordered eating.

An application of the Theory of Planned Behavior to sorority alcohol consumption

Greek-affiliated college students have been found to drink more heavily and frequently than other students. With female student drinking on the rise over the past decade, sorority women may be at particular risk for heavy consumption patterns. The current study is the first to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine drinking patterns among a sorority-only sample. Two-hundred and forty-seven sorority members completed questionnaires measuring TPB variables of attitudes, norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions, with drinking behaviors measured one month later. Latent structural equation modeling examined the pathways of the TPB model. Intentions to drink mediated the relationship between attitudes and norms on drinking behavior. Subjective norms predicted intentions to drink more than attitudes or perceived behavioral control. Perceived behavioral control did not predict intentions but did predict drinking behaviors. Interpretation and suggestions from these findings are discussed.

The Experience and Meaning of Body Image: Hearing the Voices of African American Sorority Women

The Experience and Meaning of Body Image: Hearing the Voices of African American Sorority Women