The More You Put Into It, the More You Get out of It: The Educational Gains of Fraternity/Sorority Officers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if undergraduate fraternity and sorority members who serve as chapter officers report different experiences and gains compared to non-officers. The researchers sampled 3,008 fraternity members and 3,745 sorority members from the aggregate results of the institutions that used the AFA/EBI Fraternity/Sorority Assessment during the 2009-2010 academic year. Differences by leadership experience were tested using Cliff’s delta. The researchers found significant differences in the development of chapter officers and non-officers for eight of nine educational gains measures with chapter officers reporting greater gains in these areas. Chapter officers were also more likely to be satisfied with their fraternity/sorority experience than non-officers. There was no statistically significant difference in the alcohol use of officers and non-officers.