Hazing in Student Organizations - 2023 Research Grant

Hazing is prevalent within college student organizations, as up to half of college student organization new members experience hazing (Allan & Madden, 2008; Allan et al., 2019), potentially leading to physical and psychological harm (Finkel, 2002, Nuwer, 2018). Yet, no validated scale exists to measure a college student’s experience with hazing during their time as organizational new members, or the stress caused by these experiences. Relying on survey data collected from 731 student organization members from three large public universities across the United States during the fall 2024 and spring 2025 semesters, the purpose of our study was to develop and validate the College Student Organization New Member Hazing Experiences Scale (NMHES; hazing experiences) and the New Member Experience Stress Scale (NMESS; new member stress). In addition, we examined the relationship between hazing experiences and stress and student wellbeing and belonging.