Volume_5_Issue_3_Digest

5 TPC Digest members do not reside in Greek housing, assessing drinking patterns among Greek members in non-Greek housing would be beneficial. Second, examining where the drinking occurs and how the alcohol is obtained would be valuable. A third research consideration is related to other communities of which the Greek members may be a part (e.g., college athletics). Little is known about whether there are differences between drinking behaviors of Greek members who are athletes and those who are not. The final research consideration relates to gaining a better understanding of how individual Greek members’ drinking patterns change over an academic year. Therefore, future studies should include identifiers for participants in order to determine whether individual changes occur. In the current study, regardless of where Greek-affiliated students lived, drinking levels appeared to be high and exceed what is considered safe on the AUDIT-C for both men and women. These results appear to show that banning alcohol in Greek housing does not reduce levels of drinking. Directions for future interventions may include challenging the established drinking norms in ways that encourage students to drink safely, and helping students focus on the deeper meaning of Greek membership, which promotes a sense of community and enhances the values of the fraternity or sorority. Kathleen Brown-Rice, NCC, is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Dakota. Susan Furr is a Professor at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. Correspondence may be addressed to Kathleen Brown-Rice, 414 E. Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069, kathleen.rice@usd.edu . Read full article and references: Brown-Rice, K., & Furr, S. (2015). Differences in college Greek members’ binge drinking behaviors: A dry/wet house comparison. The Professional Counselor , 5 , 354–364. doi : 10.15241/kbr.5.3.354 Research findings indicate that college students affiliated with the Greek system consume more alcohol and experience more alcohol-related problems than students who are not members of the Greek system. In particular, self-reported binge drinking is significantly higher among members of this community. Interventions to reduce drinking in Greek systems have focused on residential living. However, there has been little research to determine whether alcohol-free Greek housing reduces risky drinking in this population. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the alcohol consumption in alcohol-free Greek housing (dry) and alcohol-allowed Greek housing (wet) for two independent samples. Recruitment of participants was conducted to obtain two independent samples in fall and spring of an academic year. A total of 385 Greek members took part in the fall and a total of 379 Greek members in the spring. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C) was utilized to obtain information on participants’ alcohol use. For both the fall and spring samples, AUDIT-C scores differed significantly across the three houses, with sorority dry house members having significantly lower scores than the fraternity dry house and the fraternity wet house members. However, the AUDIT-C scores were not significantly different between the fraternity dry house and the fraternity wet house members. While the findings of this study provided insight into the risky drinking patterns of Greek house members, there are some limitations. First, this study used a convenience sample of Greek members from one university that is not likely to represent the population of all Greek members. Second, volunteers may have answered the survey questions differently than members of the population who did not agree to participate. Another limitation is that the samples might not be truly independent; some participants could have filled out the survey in both the fall and spring. The final limitation is related to the survey being a self-report measure. Despite these limitations, important considerations for future research have emerged. First, given that some Greek Differences in College Greek Members’ Binge Drinking Behaviors A Dry/Wet House Comparison Kathleen Brown-Rice Susan Furr 5 TPC Digest