Recent alcohol use and binge drinking behaviors among sexual minority undergraduate women and sorority members

Purpose Sorority members and sexual minority (SM) women engage in high rates of alcohol consumption and risky drinking in the college environment. Little is known of the alcohol use behaviors of SM sorority members, who may be especially at-risk. This paper aims to not only further investigate SM undergraduate women’s alcohol use broadly but also to understand how sorority affiliation may potentially impact their use patterns. Design/methodology/approach Participants included 30,036 (20.7% SM) cisgender undergraduate student women aged 18–23 from the 2018–2019 Healthy Minds Study cohort. Logistic regression models were used to identify group differences in any past two-week drinking and binge drinking. Interaction terms investigated the potential moderation effect between sorority affiliation and sexual orientation on the two drinking outcomes. Findings Sorority affiliation significantly predicted both past two-week drinking outcomes. Heterosexual, lesbian and “other” SM students were less likely than bisexual students to endorse any past two-week drinking and binge drinking. Sorority affiliation moderated the association between sexual orientation and binge drinking, such that heterosexual sorority women were at the greatest risk. Originality/value This research supports emerging findings regarding bisexual undergraduate women’s heightened risk for hazardous alcohol use. Furthermore, this work tested a novel hypothesis regarding the drinking behaviors among SM sorority members, a group that has received limited attention despite potential for more negative health outcomes. Future research is needed to understand the experiences of both sorority and non-sorority SM undergraduate women and develop interventions that target their unique vulnerabilities.