The relationship between Greek-letter organization membership and a measure of the development of autonomy of Delta State University students (Mississippi)

This research project was aimed at comparing the developmental differences in Greek and non-Greek students. The research question was to examine the possible relationship Greek-letter organizations might have on the development of autonomy in member students at Delta State University. The Developing Autonomy Task of the Student Development Task and Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA) was the instrument used to gather data for this study.; Chickering and Reisser's (1993) seven vector model is reviewed in detail because of its impact on student development and the role it has served in the development of the Student Development Task and Lifestyle Assessment.; Attention was given to the third vector, moving through autonomy toward interdependence, because of its influence on this study and its relationship to the measure used to gather data for this research question.; An ANOVA was run at the .05 alpha level. A statistically significant difference was found between the mean scores of Greek and non-Greek students at Delta State University on the Developing Autonomy Task as measured by the SDTLA. The mean scores of the Greek students were higher than that of the non-Greek students. This result is inconsistent with past research.