Associations Between Greek Life Membership and Undergraduate Student Well-being

Open Access
- Author:
- Quinn, Meghan
- Area of Honors:
- Human Development and Family Studies
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Gregory M Fosco, Thesis Supervisor
Blake Anthony Colaianne, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Emerging adulthood
Greek life
Sense of belonging
Social connectedness
Fraternity
Sorority
Social well-being - Abstract:
- There is a lack of research and literature on whether being a member of Greek life as an undergraduate student in a college or university setting is associated with differential well-being. During emerging adulthood, a time of considerable change and challenge, like attending a higher education institution, an individual can benefit from joining an organization or group in benefit of their social well-being. Greek-lettered organizations play a significant role in an individual’s life on and off campus through relationships, engagement, and campus life, however, there are mixed research results regarding the positive or negative outcomes associated with Greek membership. The current study uses data from the Penn State COllege Relationships and Experiences (CORE II) project to understand whether Greek life membership is associated with undergraduate student social well-being at the University Park campus. Correlations and descriptive statistics were run to better understand associations between Greek life membership and social well-being factors like sense of belonging and social connectedness. A linear regression was run to determine the association between Greek life membership and social well-being factors accounting for gender. Within the Greek life sample, a t-test was run to determine if social well-being differed between men and women and by a function of living situation. Also, within Greek life sample, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was conducted to determine if social well-being differed by year in school. Present study findings indicate that being a member of Greek life is associated with higher sense of belonging and social connectedness at the University Park campus, controlling for gender (p = <.001; see Table 2). In general, women reported a higher sense of social connectedness compared to men (r = .10, p = <.01; see Table 1). Women in Greek life reported having higher social connection than men in Greek life (β = -.095; p = <.001; see Table 2). Current findings support a possibility to examine larger Greek life samples within the University Park campus and other higher education institutions to determine study finding generalizability and more accurate analyses of living situation. There is an opportunity to analyze if current study findings are applicable as individuals transition from emerging adulthood into adulthood. Finally, associations can be tested among more diverse samples to gain a greater understanding of the needs or gaps within Greek life membership for minority students.