PURPOSE: To assess how social fraternity involvement (i.e., membership and residence) in college relates to substance use behaviors and substance use disorder symptoms during young adulthood and early midlife in a national sample.
METHODS: National multi-cohort probability samples of US high school seniors from the Monitoring the Future study were assessed at baseline (age 18) and followed longitudinally via self-administered surveys across seven follow-up waves to age 35. The longitudinal sample consisted of 7,019 males and 8,661 females, of which 10% of males and 10% of females were active members of fraternities or sororities during college.
RESULTS: Male fraternity members who lived in fraternity houses during college had the highest levels of binge drinking and marijuana use relative to non-members and non-students in young adulthood that continued through age 35, controlling for adolescent sociodemographic and other characteristics. At age 35, 45% of the residential fraternity members reported alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms reflecting mild to severe AUDs; their adjusted odds of experiencing AUD symptoms at age 35 were higher than all other college and noncollege groups except non-residential fraternity members. Residential sorority members had higher odds of AUD symptoms at age 35 when compared with their noncollege female peers.
CONCLUSIONS: National longitudinal data confirm binge drinking and marijuana use are most prevalent among male fraternity residents relative to non-members and non-students. The increased risk of substance-related consequences associated with fraternity involvement was not developmentally limited to college and is associated with higher levels of long-term AUD symptoms during early midlife.