Previous studies have demonstrated college students who belong to fraternities or sororities engage in high-risk drinking at higher rates than the general student population. A new study examined Greek students’ perceptions of a novel alcohol invention program. Participants were Greek new members at one U.S. college (N = 276) were invited to complete surveys during two consecutive semesters. 85.5% (n = 236) participants attended at least one session of the program and completed both surveys. Program components included two facilitated discussions: One on the effects of alcohol and one on the relationship between alcohol and sex. Participants were segregated by gender for the latter component. They reported their demographic characteristics, year in school, and risky drinking behaviors (measured using the AUDIT-C, on which a higher score means greater risk). The authors used the survey data to calculate participants’ changes in perception of high-risk drinking before and after attending the program and used ANOVA to test whether these changes differed significantly by gender. General linear model repeated measure analyses were used to test for differences in AUDIT-C scores based on program attendance and perceived program benefit. Overall, results indicated 61.0% of participants who attended the first discussion and 74.2% of those who attended the second discussion reported the program changed their perception of high-risk drinking. Women were more likely to report a change in risk perception on both surveys than men. For women, AUDIT-C scores were not significantly different between those who only attended the first discussion and those who attended both (p = 0.169). The same was true for men (p = 0.221). Men who perceived the program as beneficial had significantly lower AUDIT-C scores after the training (p < 0.000), whereas men who did not find the program helpful did not experience a significant change (p < 0.631). There was no significant interaction between AUDIT-C scores and program perception observed for women.
Take away: Participation in a novel, two-part alcohol intervention program was associated with decreased risky drinking behaviors among fraternity men who perceived the program as beneficial, but not among those who did not. This interaction was not observed among sorority participants.