A quasi-experimental analysis of fraternity or sorority membership and college student success

Abstract

Despite considerable debate about the effects of fraternities and sororities on college campuses, the extent to which these organizations promote or detract from student success is unclear. Therefore, we used propensity score analyses to examine the link between membership in a social fraternity or sorority and several student success outcomes. For female students, membership is associated with greater college satisfaction, grades, retention, and 4-year graduation, whereas the findings are mixed and mostly nonsignificant for male students. The results are similar regardless of students’ race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and precollege academic ability.