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(WSU Insider) College students who binge drink may be acting on influences they brought from home, a new Washington State University-led study suggests.
A recent survey shows that students who binge drink more than other students tend to have grown up in a home with more permissive attitudes toward drinking. Those students are also more likely to join Greek-affiliated organizations like fraternities or sororities.
In a study published in the journal Behavioral Sciences, researchers surveyed parents and students about drinking attitudes and behaviors, especially binge drinking. They found that parents of students who joined fraternities or sororities were more permissive of alcohol use prior to students leaving home for college.
“Previous research has shown that greater parental permissiveness, or approval, of student drinking is linked to greater alcohol use among college students,” said Kristi Morrison, lead author on the paper and a PhD student in WSU’s prevention science program. “We explored the relationship between parental approval and student Greek affiliation and found that parents of students who join Greek organizations tend to be more permissive of binge drinking even before their students come to college.”