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[NYCmetsfan]

Fraternity members who party hard are unlikely to change their boozy behavior any time soon, even with proven methods of reducing alcohol abuse, a new study suggests.

Tried and true interventions have little impact on frat brothers, says the study, published Thursday in Health Psychology. The findings were a surprise, according to the study's lead author.

"It was unexpected," Lori Scott-Sheldon, an associate professor at the Brown University Medical School and a senior scientist at the Miriam Hospital, told NBC News. "We thought they would work as they did in the broader student population. It may just be more challenging to act on your intentions if the environment endorses alcohol use."

Images in pop culture of free-flowing alcohol in frat houses, depicted in movies from "Animal House" to "Neighbors," are often not too far from the truth. And it's the celebration of heavy consumption that researchers like Scott-Sheldon are most worried about, because it can lead to tragedies like the death of Nicholas Holt, 18, a freshman at Stony Brook University this spring. Holt was brought to a Long Island Hospital from a frat party with a high blood alcohol level and died there.

The new study combined data from 15 earlier, smaller studies, in what is known as a meta-analysis. Those studies examined the success rates of 21 different interventions in fraternity members.

"The interventions included such things as education about alcohol, personalized feedback on alcohol use and strategies to reduce drinking, such as alternating alcohol with water," Scott-Sheldon said.

While there were data from sororities, too, the numbers were too small "for them to be generalizable," Scott-Sheldon said.

The researchers suspect that the situation isn't hopeless and that future interventions that include input from Greek leaders might be more effective.

Much more at link

http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/coll...-intervention-programs-study-suggests-n577681

 

[Conor_Fool]

It's okay bro their dad owns a dealership

 

[riotous]

"It was unexpected... It may just be more challenging to act on your intentions if the environment endorses alcohol use"

I mean; no shit?

Isn't this just basic stuff? Recovering alcoholics should stay away from parties and bars and the like.

 

[N.Domixis]

Yeah, frat parties breed the worst bros.To them college is all sex, alcohol and parties with some studying if they have time.

 

[Kelsdesu]

It's okay bro their dad owns a dealership

I understood that reference.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

never know how people do it, after my third blackout drunk night I sobered up. Beer doesn't count.
The mere smell of hard alcohol still makes me nauseous.

 

[jaekeem]

It's not something exclusive to greek life.

It exists throughout all of young american drinking culture (can't speak for other countries). Go to almost any college campus today, and even parties for Social Clubs like Asian American pride organizations have people drinking like morons.

People just love to get shitfaced and black out. Too few people are interested in toning it down.

 

[Stinkles]

Peer pressure is the only perpetual motion machine.

 

[Zackat]

On some campuses college has turned into extended summer camp with grades and school being the secondary reason to go there. Football and partying/social life can be the main reasons they choose where to go to school, especially for this subset of the schools population.

 

[johnsmith]

World's worst super power.

 

[Machine]

It's not something exclusive to greek life.

It exists throughout all of young american drinking culture (can't speak for other countries). Go to almost any college campus today, and even parties for Social Clubs like Asian American pride organizations have people drinking like morons.

People just love to get shitfaced and black out. Too few people are interested in toning it down.

So true. When I was in college, heavy drinking and risky behavior were not restricted to Greek life. Some of the wildest parties I went to were in dorms (the 8'0s were different) or hosted by people who would never consider joining a fraternity or sorority.

 

[SkyOdin]

It's not something exclusive to greek life.

It exists throughout all of young american drinking culture (can't speak for other countries). Go to almost any college campus today, and even parties for Social Clubs like Asian American pride organizations have people drinking like morons.

People just love to get shitfaced and black out. Too few people are interested in toning it down.

Uh, the point of this study is that, compared to other college students, members of fraternities were much less likely to give up heavy drinking after an intervention. The result is that there is something more specific to fraternities that leads to people clinging more strongly to heavy drinking.

 

[riotous]

Uh, the point of this study is that, compared to other college students, members of fraternities were much less likely to give up heavy drinking after an intervention. The result is that there is something more specific to fraternities that leads to people clinging more strongly to heavy drinking.

Yeah jakeem isn't wrong; the culture exists outside of greek life. Getting black out drunk which can easily kill you on it's own (let alone lead to violence, rape, accidental death, etc.), is laughed off as a joke.

However it's much easier for a dorm student to take it easy and avoid the "culture"; their social life might suffer but they won't be an outcast in the home they live in.

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

It's okay bro their dad owns a dealership

It's cool they got rubbers.

 

[burn this down]

Speaking as someone who currently attends a 'party school' and regularly goes out to party, people need to learn when enough is enough. I've seen people get fucking trashy. Can't walk, can't speak, throwing up (I've been guilty of this one), barely function as humans. Like, it's fun to let loose and get fucking drunk sometimes, but it shouldn't be an 'every night' kind of thing, and people need to get priorities in check when it comes to school, personal relationships, and partying.

But there's also the perception of "It's not alcoholism until you graduate", and it's scary that people actually think like that. Know your limits.

 

[CornBurrito]

Yes, if you hang out with drug users you're not going to fight your drug addiction.

 

[Retromelon]

I have nothing to add except lmao @ first post

 

[uncredited male]

Is this a passive or a set bonus?

 

[Krejlooc]

never know how people do it, after my third blackout drunk night I sobered up. Beer doesn't count.
The mere smell of hard alcohol still makes me nauseous.

You get burned out. I essentially don't drink at all anymore, period, and I was a fraternity president in college. Essentially haven't had a serious drink in about 8 years now. Haven't even bought beer during that time.

 

[Royal_Phalanx]

I feel like it's the perception that college is the best time of your life and you should milk it before you hit boring real life that does this. It's true though. Life got infinitely more boring after college.

 

[M.W.]

Beer pressure

 

[vikki]

It's cool they got rubbers.

Those are solid dudes, I am totally rushing them in the fall.

 

[lt519]

Why would they stop having fun?

The studies are also stupidly flawed. If you have a beer a night they consider you an alcoholic. I had to go to one of these intervention programs because I was caught playing beer pong. Partying in my frat 4 nights a week was considered alcoholism (ok maybe it was). But there's only one place where it's remotely acceptable to be a drunken idiot 90% of the time and that was in college. I turned out fine, as long as you can balance it, and realize it isn't acceptable in the real world. I wasn't going to stop having 10+ beers a week (their threshold for alcoholism) because I got caught playing beer pong and had to go to an intervention lol.

However it's much easier for a dorm student to take it easy and avoid the "culture"; their social life might suffer but they won't be an outcast in the home they live in.

The funny thing is that kids that wanted to party on the frat quad but weren't in a fraternity often showed up drunk out of their minds because they did hard liquor and shots in their dorm rooms because it was too hard to sneak in beer. Then they'd get all pissy when they were falling over and we wouldn't give them any more beer. Most the kids that got in trouble or harmed themselves from getting black out drunk were non-fraternity members and they mostly showed up on the quad in that state already.