Greek/Student Athlete Alcohol Consumption

Stakeholder Analysis Essay
My inquiry question concerns heavy drinking within Greek life and student athletes. These are the two most at risk social groups in college. Both have an ingrained history of heavy alcohol use and have been known to frequently abuse alcohol. Student athletes and Greek life pride themselves for being leaders, upholding their personal integrity, and academic scholarship. But also they have been known for drinking for the purpose to get drunk, also known as “binge drinking”. The two groups live completely different lifestyles and have different drinking patterns, so who drinks more? Both being the most “at risk” groups is there one that drinks more and is there any factors that contribute to this? Based on different perspectives, you may get different answers, reasoning, and risk management strategies that are or should be implemented for safer environments.
Based on a student athlete’s perspective, a member of a fraternity or sorority would drink much more heavily than someone competing in NCAA competitions every weekend. Their belief is such because there is much more opportunity to partake in drinking activities. Many studies have been done, such as one by Yusko and his colleagues that was published in the Journal of College American Health, to show that “during the week consumption is typically similar to that of a non-athlete non-Greek student.” However on a typical weekend a student athlete may binge drink the entire weeks’ worth of alcohol in one night, and then some. This can even out frequency of drinking of one group with a lower quantity with quantity of beverages consumed by another group less frequently. Due to this a Greek life member would be inclined to argue that athletes drink just as much as sorority and fraternity members. Yusko’s study contributed the unique factors of their environment such as “heightened stress, time constraints, social environments, and an increased physical demand” playing a role in how alcohol is typically consumed by a student athlete. Their binging on the weekend is partly contributed to the lifestyle they live. Heavy and frequent competition influences them to treat alcohol in the same manner as an athletic competition- with everything they have. Another influencer is psychologically feeling that they are deprived of “typical college experience” due to practices, games, and team rules. Despite research showing that non-student athlete and student athlete drinking during the week is actually very similar. An athlete would continue to argue that there is a huge difference between how they treat alcohol both in season and out of season. In season athletes offer the illusion that there is very little to no alcohol intake based on surveys compiled by the NCAA over twenty years. Athletes tend to believe that since they only drink once or twice a month, they do not drink too heavily due to infrequent drinking. However, Out of season athletes treat alcohol in the same sense that they have all season, except now they tend to binge drink daily, as they believe a “typical college student does” creating a tendency to always binge drink despite having the free range to drink whenever they want, this doesn’t register with them because they have created the habit to drink to get drunk. Another stakeholder in the issue would be a person on an administrative board of a large university that is heavily involved in divisions I athletics as well as having a large well known Greek life community. This is a stakeholder because both groups are highly involved in campus activities and have a reputation to uphold both for their own personal groups whether it is a team or a house that reflect the reputation of the school itself that the administration maintains. Behaviors of intoxicated students that are leaders around campus and any behavior, good or bad are all are examples of their university. Therefore the people of authority on these campuses believe that these individuals should be held to a higher standard. The information of who drinks more out of the two highest “at risk drinkers” as well as why, is meaningful to these administrative roles because it can help them learn what prevention techniques need to be used, who to focus on, and what needs the most attention in order to stay in good standing as a university. Universities tend to want to avoid the reputation of being a party school, which makes prevention programs crucial to avoiding negative repercussions from binge drinking and therefore avoiding any negative media towards their school. From the stake holder position of a Greek life member, they view the issue of alcohol similarly to the administrative stand point. There are rules for alcohol at functions and repercussions of behaving inappropriately. Due to media portrayals these types of organizations are often viewed already as “drinking clubs”. The statistics show that they are on average the highest alcohol user group on college campuses. They would argue that they use educational programs such as GreekLife.edu and spend a portion of member’s due money on speakers and philanthropic events to promote healthy lifestyles including alcohol usage. By learning about alcohol consumption Greek institutions are hoping to create an awareness of alcohol problems that are associated with Greek life.
A stakeholder that is impacted as well is someone who is involved in both athletics and Greek life. This person is statistically speaking the most at risk. They associate with both social groups, and therefore they associate with both the social groups drinking norms. Since both groups promote leadership, they often singled out to act accordingly. Athletes binge on a weekend while Greek life tend to utilize more days in the week for alcohol consumption, so adding those together creates a situation that increases consumption rather decreasing it despite the demanding dual schedule. An important thing for this stakeholder would be to recognize this statistic and evaluate their choices. Many of the researchers showed that each group is naïve to the problems that their own social group has, but scrutinizes the ones that they are not part of. This stakeholder has a rare in on both sides of the highest at risk groups, and although alcohol may not be seen as an issue for this person based on the assumption that they have too demanding of a schedule, this is actually the person that it affects the most. The stakeholder I want to develop further would be that of an administrative employee, because it does not take into account the bias opinion of either Greek life or athletes. An administrative employee has to assess the good and the bad of each “at risk” group. Any action that a student does reflects upon the administration. The decisions the administration make affect the reputation of the school. I think that developing this stakeholder considers the other important stakeholders to at risk binge drinking, but also takes it a step further by adding an authoritative view to the whole matter.

Work Cited
David A. Yusko PsyD , Jennifer F. Buckman PhD , Helene R. White PhD & Robert J Pandina “Alcohol, Tobacco, Illicit Drugs, and Performance Enhancers: A Comparison of Use by College Student Athletes and Non-athletes”, Journal of American College Health, 57:3
Philip W. Meilman PhD , Jami S. Leichliter MA & Cheryl A. Presley PhD (1999 “Greeks and Athletes: Who Drinks More?” Journal of American College Health, 47:4, 187-190 13 Feb. 2013
Adam E. Barry PhD (2007): Using Theory-Based Constructs to Explore the Impact of Greek Membership on Alcohol-Related Beliefs and Behaviors: A Systematic Literature Review, Journal of American College Health, 56:3, 307-315
Turrisi, Rob, Kimberly A. Mallett, Mary E. Larimer, and Nadine R. Mastroleo “Who is at risk and what is being done about it" National Institute of Health (2008): US National Library of Medicine. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.

Cited: David A. Yusko PsyD , Jennifer F. Buckman PhD , Helene R. White PhD & Robert J Pandina “Alcohol, Tobacco, Illicit Drugs, and Performance Enhancers: A Comparison of Use by College Student Athletes and Non-athletes”, Journal of American College Health, 57:3 Philip W. Meilman PhD , Jami S. Leichliter MA & Cheryl A. Presley PhD (1999 “Greeks and Athletes: Who Drinks More?” Journal of American College Health, 47:4, 187-190 13 Feb. 2013 Adam E. Barry PhD (2007): Using Theory-Based Constructs to Explore the Impact of Greek Membership on Alcohol-Related Beliefs and Behaviors: A Systematic Literature Review, Journal of American College Health, 56:3, 307-315 Turrisi, Rob, Kimberly A. Mallett, Mary E. Larimer, and Nadine R. Mastroleo “Who is at risk and what is being done about it" National Institute of Health (2008): US National Library of Medicine. Web. 13 Feb. 2013.