Our group memberships can powerfully influence our behaviors, so they should be chosen with care.

Sororities offer the possibility of belongingness and lifelong friendship.

Sororities can also foster an unhealthy focus on appearance and negative body image.

Moms can play an important role in their daughters' decisions by supporting and modeling critical thinking.

A young woman’s first year of college is an exciting time full of new experiences, new friends, and new independence. Naturally, parents want this to be a meaningful and memorable moment in their student’s transition to early adulthood. And during the fall semester, many prospective students are touring their campuses and considering whether they will join a sorority—the process known as “Rush.” Media reports highlight parents becoming heavily invested in helping their daughters gain membership into their desired sorority. There is even a thriving industry of sorority “rush consultants” who promise to help young ladies receive bids from the campus groups they desire—for a fee.

What types of memories and connections do we want them to make?

Recent news headlines have reignited conversations on the toxic culture and extreme behaviors that membership in Greek life can entail. Although much of the recent attention has focused on fraternities and sexual assault, sororities often have their own toxic cultures, especially around the topics of physical appearance and food restriction.

For example, we know that sorority membership affects women’s BMI; sorority members have lower BMIs than non-sorority members (Doney et al., 2023). Women who participate in rush tend to engage in more self-objectification and have more disordered eating behaviors than women who do not (Rolnik et al., 2010) and both tendencies are well-known correlates of negative body image.........

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