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The National Study of Student Hazing was recently released by Associate Professors Mary Madden and Elizabeth Allen, with the College of Education and Human development at the University of Maine.
The study is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind to date. According to Allen, “it encompassed 11,482 post-secondary students, spread across 53 college campuses nationwide.”
According to the report, the research goals of the study are to “investigate the nature and extent of hazing behaviors among students in U.S. colleges and universities,” and to “offer research-based strategies for responding to and preventing the problem of hazing among college students with transferability to middle and secondary schools.” Schools in the future will be able to use the study’s findings to build programs aimed at stopping hazing at its source.
While hazing is commonly associated with Greek organizations and athletics, it is also prevalent in organizations like recreation clubs and performing arts groups. The report states that 56 percent of the students polled who belong to a performing arts group have been or have taken part in hazing. Recreation club members reported a 46 percent rate of hazing.
The study makes it clear why varsity sports are most commonly associated with hazing, with 74 percent of the members reporting they have experienced hazing.
The study cites hazing as, “any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses or endangers them regardless of a person’s willingness to participate.” The survey includes over 30 examples of commonly used hazing tactics, with some of the more popular including “wearing clothing that is embarrassing and not part of a uniform, being yelled, screamed or cursed at by team/organization members, being deprived of sleep, acting as a personal servant to other members and drinking large amounts of alcohol until the point of passing out or getting sick.”
“Many are just not aware they are being hazed a lot of the time,” Allen said. Nine out of 10 students who reported experiencing a hazing behavior in the study stated they did not consider themselves to have been hazed. The study states many students identify hazing with physical force, involving activities such as paddling, beating or tying up perspective members. Still, others acknowledge that hazing involves more than physical force but do not perceive harm in other forms of hazing.
“Many students think that they are not being hazed because they agreed to take part in it, so many of them do not understand the power of group coercion,” Allen said.
“Hazing is not an issue on our team. Yeah, we poke fun at each other once in a while, but it’s all in good fun,” said sophomore and member of UMaine track team Miles Bartlett.
While the report describes the initial findings of the National Study of Hazing, there are many more aspects to the survey and interviews conducted that will be analyzed in the months to come. For more information about the subject or to read the initial report, you can visit hazingstudy.org.
