7 minute read
Making Our Case
The Positive Impact of Fraternities
Fraternities and sororities provide experiences that are an important part of higher education, with an estimated 750,000 undergraduate members and nine million living alumni members in the United States alone. But how do you prove it? Anecdotally, many alumni point to their membership as the opportunity to develop lifelong friendship, gain valuable leadership experiences, and thrive civically. While many have leaned on those experiences, research on educational and experiential outcomes of fraternity and sorority membership has been limited. Until now. The North American Interfraternity Conference (NIC), the trade association representing 58 men’s fraternities, including Phi Gamma Delta, recently began an aggressive research agenda intended to empirically show the value and opportunities of fraternity membership. With many more projects underway, the results of three recent studies show positive impacts around student engagement, mental health and positive youth development.
Research Reaffirms Fraternities’ Positive Impact for Students
In August 2020, Dr. Gary R. Pike of Indiana University, a prominent higher education researcher, released a study that examined the relationships between fraternity and sorority membership and student engagement, learning outcomes, academic performance and satisfaction with college. For this study, which is one of the largest of its kind, Dr. Pike replicated his 2003 research which utilized National Survey on Student Engagement (NSSE) data to determine whether levels of engagement and learning outcomes changed over time. According to Dr. Pike, the NSSE is a good instrument to understand students broadly and fraternity and sorority members specifically. “The scope of the NSSE data is significant to these findings. Each year, approximately 700 institutions participate in that survey and we get complete responses from over 200,000, either first-year students or seniors,” said Dr. Pike. “It is a tremendously robust and representative data set.” Dr. Pike found that fraternity/sorority membership is associated with significantly higher levels of engagement in several areas, including high impact practices, collaborative learning, student-faculty interactions, perception of a supportive campus environment and discussions with diverse others. Some specific conclusions found in Dr. Pike’s study included: • Fraternity/sorority membership also indirectly improved learning gains, acting through higher levels of student engagement. • Despite being less diverse than students in general, fraternity/sorority members reported higher levels of interaction with people different from themselves than other students did. • Membership in a fraternity/sorority is associated with greater involvement in curricular and
cocurricular activities, promotes student learning and development, and promotes satisfaction with the college experience. • The largest positive effects were generally found for first-year students, arguing against deferred recruitment until the second semester or second year. • The findings of this study indicate that fraternities and sororities are not antithetical to the values of American higher education. According to Dr. Pike, the collaborative learning effects were most dramatic for first-year students. He saw much higher participation and interaction with faculty in first-year fraternity members compared to first-year, non-affiliated students. There was also significantly higher perception of a supportive campus environment for first-year fraternity members. “The first year of college is a time of transition for students,” said Dr. Pike. “Engagement during the first year, one of the research results that George Kuh and others have reported, tends to help students stay in college. It also positively affects their learning.” Additionally, the study found while members of fraternities and sororities were more homogeneous than the general student population, they reported significantly higher levels of discussions with diverse others than non-affiliated students—including people from different races, ethnicity, economic backgrounds, religious beliefs and political views. Moreover, the relationship was strongest for fraternity members. “There have been several studies, including mine, that find positive relationships between fraternity/sorority membership, student engagement and student learning. While specific findings on a scale differ from study to study, the overall results are consistent about fraternities and sororities having this positive effect on students’ engagement in college,” said Dr. Pike.
Mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, stress and loneliness, are growing on college campuses, and they have only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. A report released in February from the Postsecondary Education Research Center (PERC) at the University of Tennessee Knoxville sought to determine the impact of fraternity and sorority membership on mental health. The PERC report used data from the 2018-19 Healthy Minds Study, an annual survey that explores mental health, service utilization and other issues related to student mental health, with a data sample that included 41,302 students from 78 colleges and universities. When comparing unaffiliated students with those who joined fraternities and sororities, the PERC report found members of 4fraternities and sororities reported overall higher levels of positive Areas of campus life where fraternity members display
HIGHER LEVELS OF
ENGAGEMENT than unaffiliated peers, according to Dr. Pike's study:
High-Impact Practices: Partici-
pated in study abroad programs; held an internship
Collaborative Learning:
Worked with other students on projects and assignments; asked another student for help understanding course material
Student-Faculty Interactions:
Talked about career plans or academic performance with a faculty member Supportive Environment: Used
learning support services; attended events that address important social, economic or political issues
Discussion with Diverse
Others: People from different economic backgrounds, race/ethnicity or religious/political beliefs
Fraternity members report higher levels of POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH, according to the PERC report:
• Members report higher levels of positive mental health along with lower rates of depression
and anxiety
• Members believe good support systems exist on campus for students going through a tough time • Members are more likely to seek therapy or counseling at some point in their lives • Members have a lower chance of being diagnosed with depression throughout their lives
mental health along with lower rates of depression and anxiety. Some of its key conclusions included that members of fraternities and sororities: • Report higher positive mental health scores • Report lower mean scores related to depression • Have lower lifetime diagnosis of depression • Have higher rates of lifetime use of therapy or counseling • Have a higher positive rating of campus support systems The PERC report continues to reinforce the benefits of fraternity membership, including those identified by Dr. Gary Pike. This is important at a time when 60% of college undergraduates reported having an increasingly difficult time accessing mental health care, even before campuses closed and instruction moved online due to the pandemic.
Evidence of Positive Youth Development & Civic Thriving in Fraternity Members
EVERFI, a company that offers several online education programs, including AlcoholEdu for College and GreekLifeEdu, partnered with the NIC to examine both the perceptions of fraternity life by nonmembers and the unique developmental strengths of fraternity members, by analyzing data through the lens of a positive youth development model. EVERFI’s first report, New Perspectives on Fraternity and Sorority Life, used data from 49,152 students
Membership in a fraternity is associated with greater involvement in curricular and cocurricular activities, promotes student learning and development, and promotes satisfaction with the college experience.
in fall 2019. In their analysis, EVERFI found that fraternity/sorority members scored higher than nonmembers on measures of community connection, service contribution, social competence and physical competence – supporting a case for social, physical and civic thriving among members. Other measures of positive youth development were analyzed but did not find statistically significant differences between members and non-members, including academic competence and character. Their findings provide evidence that while all students equally value contributing to their communities and society, members of fraternities and sororities more often act on those values and have a stronger connection to their local communities. They are also more likely to excel socially and athletically than non-members. The EVERFI report also provides valuable insight into why students do not join fraternities and sororities, identifying areas where organizations like Phi Gamma Delta can strengthen their positioning to support current membership, build future membership and improve perceptions of fraternal organizations. This year is the first of a three-year research partnership intended to provide robust data and strengthen fraternities nationwide.
While these findings are of little surprise to most members, they are important as we promote the value of fraternity to potential members, parents, and colleges and universities. The NIC, with support from the Foundation for Fraternal Excellence and numerous member organizations, has many more projects underway that are expected to continue to prove the positive impacts fraternity membership can offer. Among them is a soon-to-be released update to the 2014 Gallup research which found alumni who are members of fraternities or sororities are more likely to thrive in all five critical elements of well-being, have higher workplace engagement and exhibit higher emotional attachment to their alma mater. Full study reports and other updates on interfraternal research can be found at www. phigam.org/research. t
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