The Associations of Greek and Religious Organization Participation with College Students' Social Well-Being and Purpose

ABSTRACT

Two online-survey studies examined the associations of Greek (i.e., sorority and fraternity) and religious (i.e., church or campus ministry) organization participation with college students' social well-being and sense of purpose. In study 1 (N = 281), religious organization membership (versus no membership) was associated with connectedness and purpose, but for Greek organizations the associations held only with respect to level of organization involvement. In study 2 (N = 426), Greek and religious organization membership were both associated with most social well-being and purpose indicators, but only Greek membership was linked to lower loneliness. As in study 1, level of involvement in Greek, but not religious, organizations was linked to social well-being. Hypothesized moderators of the associations between organization membership and the purpose and social well-being variables were not supported. We discuss implications for professionals who work with college students to promote well-being, and we present future research ideas.

KEYWORDS:

• Education
• emotional development
• peer relations
• social interaction

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Jeffrey H. Kahn for assistance with the data analysis.

Note

Notes

1. T-tests revealed significant mean differences between participants from the two universities (Ns = 138 and 288) on some of the key variables in the study, but z-tests showed that all correlations among key variables did not differ for participants from the two universities (ps ≥ .076). For reasons of parsimony and power we therefore combined data from the two universities.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gina M. Turton

Gina M. Turton is an academic coordinator for the Honors Program at Illinois State University. She serves as a primary advisor for freshmen honors students in various disciplines. She intends to continue research in the fields of student development and advising.

Margaret M. Nauta

Margaret M. Nauta is a professor in the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University, where she is affiliated with the clinical-counseling master's degree program. She conducts research on social and cognitive factors associated with individuals' career development.

Eric D. Wesselmann

Eric D. Wesselmann is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Illinois State University. His research interests focus on social connection and exclusion, as well as stigma and religion/spirituality.

Miranda M. McIntyre

Miranda M. McIntyre is a doctoral candidate in the Social Psychology program at Purdue University. She studies traits from a social-cognitive perspective and examines how they relate to involvement in STEM. Her research interests also include linguistics and the examination of social and personality processes through language.

William G. Graziano

William G. Graziano is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Purdue University. He received his PhD in Psychology from the University of Minnesota. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association Division 7 (Developmental Psychology) and Division 8 (Social & Personality Psychology).