A new University of Maine study shows that relationships with friends, staff and faculty play a critical role in students’ decisions to report hazing, emphasizing the need for strong campus support systems.
College students’ relationships with their campus community significantly influence their willingness to report hazing incidents, according to an eye-opening study from the University of Maine. Released during National Hazing Awareness Week, the research sheds light on key factors that encourage or deter students from coming forward.
Lead author Devin Franklin, a doctoral student in higher education, emphasized the multi-layered approach needed for effective hazing prevention.
“The goal is to have most of the prevention happen at the primary stage, but the reality on college campuses — and in the interpersonal violence space — is that hazing does happen. So it’s really important that we understand what leads students to report hazing and what factors deter them from doing so,” Franklin said in a news release.
The comprehensive study revealed that relationships could both facilitate and hinder the reporting process.
Some students avoid reporting due to fear of social isolation, contributing to a persistent “culture of silence” on many campuses.
In contrast, others felt empowered to report when they had strong connections with peers, staff and faculty.
One participant noted, “ideally they would take that to me first and then I would take it to one of my advisors and she would deal with it from there.”
Franklin highlighted the critical role of student support professionals in fostering a safe reporting environment.
“When you have even one trusted staff member or advisor, a student is going to be more likely to go to them when they have an issue,” added Franklin.
The study also examined how institutional contexts and students’ understanding of what constitutes hazing affected reporting decisions.
Co-author Elizabeth Allan, a UMaine professor of higher education and Franklin’s doctoral advisor, spoke on the spectrum of hazing behaviors.
“Lack of recognition is certainly a deterrent when it comes to reporting,” Allan said in the news release. “While there’s a recognition of physically violent incidents as hazing, intimidation and harassment behaviors have more of a tendency to be normalized and accepted.”
Allan led a landmark national study of college student hazing in 2008 and is currently updating her research. She stressed the importance of primary prevention through education about the entire spectrum of hazing behaviors.
The findings come from the Hazing Prevention Consortium, a multi-year initiative supporting the development of evidence-based hazing prevention strategies at higher education institutions. Since 2013, more than 40 colleges and universities have participated in this consortium.
The initiative is part of StopHazing, a research group founded by Allan.
“We intentionally designed the consortium so we could conduct research to inform the interventions on different college campuses,” Allan added. “Institutions participate in three-year cohorts, and each one gets a site visit and tailored recommendations to strengthen prevention strategies.”
The full study is published in the Journal of American College Health and aims to bolster hazing prevention efforts across colleges nationwide.
Source: University of Maine