College Life: Interventions For Binge Drinking In Fraternities And Sororities Are Ineffective

There are interventions to address binge drinking in colleges across America. However, a study has found that the interventions have failed when it came to members of fraternities and sororities.

The interventions are not working to the extent that members of a fraternity would drink the same amount of alcohol even if there were no interventions done, Raw Story reported. The study, published in the journal Health Psychology revealed that some members actually increased the amount of alcohol they drank after the intervention.

The study reviewed 15 previous studies done between 1987 and 2014 with 21 various alcohol interventions. Some of the interventions were discussion groups, addressing misperceptions of campus and Greek practices and strategies to identify high-risk situations for drinking.

Interventions Do Nothing To Solve The Binge Drinking Problem Among Greek Life College Students https://t.co/MYjkDTmhMS #world

— World Medical News (@worldmedi) May 19, 2016

New Type Of Intervention Needed To Counter Binge Drinking

"Current approaches to reduce alcohol consumption and problems among fraternity, and possibly sorority members, have limited effectiveness," said Dr. Lori Scott-Sheldon, the study's lead researcher, as per Medical Daily. "We need to refine or develop new interventions that work better for these students."

According to the study, drinking alcohol is an integral part of fraternities and sororities. Hence, there is a great possibility that this is why its members have a harder time giving up binge drinking compared to non-members of Greek organizations.

Sorority Members Left Out In Interventions

"In particular, sorority members are four times more likely to be sexually assaulted than nonsorority members; this increased risk has been attributed to higher rates of alcohol consumption by both perpetrators and victims," the researchers said, according to Pacific Standard. Still, there were no interventions that were aimed at sorority members.

The 15 different studies reviewed involved 6,026 members of fraternities and sororities but only 18 percent were female. "Thus, evaluating interventions targeted specifically to sorority members is an important but neglected area of research," said the researchers.

What are your suggestions for countering binge drinking in college? Share your thoughts below.

What are your suggestions for countering binge drinking in college? Share your thoughts below.