Blog Post #4

Theresa Costello

Professor Goeller

Research in Disciplines: College!

February 24, 2010

Research Proposal

Working Title: Alcohol Affecting Greek Life

Topic:

            I will explore the tendency of students using Greek life as a gateway into the partying and drinking lifestyle that goes hand in hand with the idea of college. The paper will show the statistics in which students partake in risky drinking behavior linking those statistics with students that choose to join Greek life. In addition, I want to show how the risky drinking behaviors lead to many accidents within Greek life mixers and what not.

Research Question:

            Does joining a fraternity or sorority create a gateway for students to leading more risky drinking behavior? Alternatively, does the problem with drinking in college lie wit the overall college atmosphere?

Theoretical Frame:

            There are many theories to why there are so many students during the academic years fall victims to fatal accidents due to risky drinking behavior. My paper is going to focus on whether or not there is a correlation to joining Greek life and engaging in a dangerous amount of alcohol consumption. The theory of peer pressure will be examined. Peer pressure is the likelihood to partake in any behavior your friends are engaging in, even though you may not want to do; however, you will partake in the risky behavior so you may feel a sense of belonging.

            Another term I want to analyze and link with the rest of my paper is the idea of hazing. Hazing is the act of initiating new members into a club of some sort. Now most college that I have research have made any practice of hazing illegal and will not be tolerated in any organization within the college campus. However there are still many instances where students engage in dangerous drinking behavior due to hazing with fraternities.

            Another term that goes hand in hand with my topic of college drinking and Greek life is binge drinking. Binge drinking is the act of drinking an excessive amount of alcohol in a small amount of time. In many instances of binge drinking leads to the student being hospitalized or even deceased. Many college students partake in binge drinking. I plan to follow up on whether students join Greek life so they can partake in these activities.

Case:

            In the scholarly article, Alcohol Use in the Greek System: Follow the Leader?, they show statistics such as, “Fraternity house residents averaged 20.3 drinks per week compared with 7.5 drinks for all male students, while sorority house residents averaged 6.2 drinks per week compared with 3.2 drinks for all female students” (Cashin, 63). The authors surveyed many college students and separated them into regular students and students involved in Greek life. The statistics are appalling to see how much a difference the drinking behavior is when comparing the two different groups of students. I plan to explore why this happens.

            Another scholarly article, Liquid Bonding: A Cultural Analysis of the Role of Alcohol in Fraternity Pledgeship, in this article, they gather that fraternities are to blame for the binge drinking in a majority of college students. In this article, they do not blame the binge drinking on peer pressure or any of the other usual topics that are examined when discussing this controversial topic. The attribute the risky drinking behavior on the overall appearance of the Fraternity houses themselves. They believe that since the Greek life houses are always filled to the brim with alcohol and funnels to chug alcohol lead students into believing that drinking this excessive amount is normal, and to fit in they must engage in the behavior as well.

Working Bibliography:

·      Armstrong, Elizabeth and Laura Hamilton. Paying for the Party: How College Maintains

 Inequality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2013. Print.

·      Cashin, Jeffrey R., Cheryl A. Presley, and Philip W. Meilman. "Alcohol use in the Greek

 system: Follow the leader?." Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs59.1

 (1998): 63.

·      Kuh, George D., and James C. Arnold. "Liquid bonding: A cultural analysis of the role of

            alcohol in fraternity pledgeship." Journal of College Student Development 34

(1993): 327-327.

·      Sher, Kenneth J., Bruce D. Bartholow, and Shivani Nanda. "Short-and long-term effects

of fraternity and sorority membership on heavy drinking: a social norms

perspective." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 15.1 (2001): 42.

·      "How Fraternities and Sororities Impact Students (Or Do They?)." Psychology Today.

            Alan Reifman Ph.D., 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 01 Mar. 2015.