Knowledge Bank

Research indicates that involvement in fraternities and sororities may be associated with higher rates of social smoking and usage of tobacco products for college students. Social and other organizations play an important role in the development and reinforcement of social norms on tobacco use to young adults during a time when health risk behaviors are in transition. The present study is a cross-sectional survey of a national sample of Greek letter organizations for the presence of policies that restrict tobacco use and perceptions of these policies by organization leadership. A web-based survey was designed to assess the prevalence of tobacco-specific restrictions, benefits and barriers to adoption of such policies, and future intentions for policy adoption. A listing of social fraternities and sororities was created (n=136) from organizational websites. These organizations were identified through six different umbrella organizations. Member organizations had at least one chapter and had a social designation. In August and September 2014, survey links were emailed to each organization, with two follow-up emails.; the final sample of 21 organizations completed the survey (a 15.4% response rate.) Quantitative measures were summarized with descriptive statistics, and qualitative responses were independently coded by two reviewers for common themes. From these responses, most (95.2%) of the organizations reported that they had no policies that restricted tobacco. Of those respondents, most reported that instituting a policy would be difficult, especially on the individual chapter level (79.0%). The biggest barrier to creation of a policy was considered the lack of enforcement capabilities (78.9%). Organizations viewed restricting tobacco as not one of their priorities (73.7%) or their responsibilities (68.4%). None of the social fraternities or sororities that responded had a policy that specifically prohibits tobacco. Results indicate the need for educating fraternity and sorority leaders, at the national level, regarding the effects of tobacco on members, and the positive influences tobacco control policies could have on the health and safety of members.