Cross & Crescent

Editor’s Note:In May, Student Advisory Committee member Ted Panagiotoulias wrote about the qualitative results of the True Brother Initiative from his Epsilon-Epsilon Zeta at the University of Toronto. For June, Director of Education Tim Reuter and Dr. Elgan Baker — clinical professor at Indiana University School of Medicine, Master Steward, Order of Merit winner, and Butler University chapter adviser — report on the updated quantitive results. If you are interested in viewing the measurable data outcome in more granularity, please click here.

The True Brother Initiative is a comprehensive member development initiative, focusing on a Lambda Chi Alpha brother’s entire journey — from the pre-affiliation phase of rush/recruitment, through initiation and even the alumnus experience.

The rollout of True Brother has taken place in phases, beginning with the Outer Circle in July 2007 at the Stead Leadership Seminar. The Outer Circle encompasses all three phases of the Lambda Chi Alpha experience prior to Initiation (recruitment, associate member education, and pre-Initiation), and programming was created to ensure chapters have the opportunity to administer each phase of the Outer Circle “the Lambda Chi Alpha way.”

The Cole Recruitment Institute (rush/recruitment), Call to Brotherhood (associate member education program), and Exoteric Mysteries (approved approach to pre-Initiation) were developed through the collaboration of volunteers, staff, and undergraduate brothers. The foundation of each program is Lambda Chi Alpha’s Seven Core Values (Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Service & Stewardship, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage), and the necessary component to each is Lambda Chi Alpha’s experiential learning model.

The learning model begins with purposeful experiences followed by a three-part debrief (self reflection, understanding/meaning making, and sharing/discussion). The combination of the Core Values and learning model ensure consistency across the board in all programming, including the Inner Circle Programming (continual developmental opportunities for initiated brothers) rolled out in January 2008, and the Mastery Circle programming for alumni (the Neville Advisers College and Master Steward Program).

These programs, along with others, the Core Values, and learning model ensure consistency, direction, and developmental outcomes that span the entirety of our General Fraternity programming and ensure that each of our brothers knows what his crescent is growing towards.

Developmental Competencies

The underpinning of the True Brother Initiative is the maturational structure focused on five specific developmental competencies: self awareness, self esteem, intimacy, empathy, and altruism.

• Self awareness is the capacity for introspection and the attunement and analysis of inner experience.
• Self esteem is the ability to maintain a positive and robust sense of self even in the face of stressful situations.
• Intimacy is the capacity to develop and maintain close connections to others characterized by authenticity and reciprocity.
• Empathy is the ability to be fluent and comfortable with the experience and expression of emotions in self and others.
• Altruism is the ability to sincerely invest in the welfare of others.

Since the initial rollout in 2007, and even during the pilot phase during the 2006-2007 academic year, the General Fraternity has worked to measure our brothers levels and/or capacities across each developmental competency via Internet-administered surveys; thus, providing quantitative outcomes regarding the maturational development of our brothers.

Lambda Chi Alpha has used standardized measures, delivered over the Internet, and analyzed outcomes and their impact on chapter operations and the maturation of individual brothers (the latter of which is reported on later in this article). Lambda Chi Alpha looks at the data for all brothers that complete the surveys, the 50 chapters most completely implementing the Outer Circle, the 50 chapters least implementing the Outer Circle, and the top 10 chapters most completely implementing the Outer Circle and then compares the information against the wide amounts of normative data found in college students.

Recently, at the Conference on College Men, hosted by NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education), a clear need for developmental programming targeted at college men was discussed. Specifically, Dr. Frank Harris, assistant professor of postsecondary educational leadership and student affairs at San Diego State University, recommended the needs for college men to find opportunities to be themselves, participate in self reflection, participate in group engagement, learn from adult role models, and learn from student role models (2009).

Dr. Harris’ research clearly identifies data and trends that provide validity, from the academic community, that the True Brother Initiative fills a void in the college experience for men.

2008-2009 Results

During the second year of the True Brother Initiative, nearly 1,200 brothers representing all of our chapters and colonies have participated in our assessment project, completing online surveys at association and again at initiation.

Analysis of these data allows us to evaluate the impact of our initiative, the learning model, and our Outer Circle programming components. These data have again demonstrated the significant influence these variables are having on the developmental maturation of our undergraduate brothers in core competencies related to psychological health and personal success.

In summary, the results have largely replicated and extend important findings from analysis of the first year of the True Brother Initiative.

When compared to normative data for college freshmen, our brothers show significantly greater maturation on most of the developmental competencies assessed. The difference becomes larger and increasingly significant as chapters more fully integrate and implement each of the True Brother Initiative’s component features.

Further, the degree of change and amount of growth from association to Initiation increases as chapters more fully utilize and more effectively implement all of the programs of the Outer Circle and each of the components of Lambda Chi Alpha’s learning model.

While our young brothers do not appear to be significantly different from comparison norms at association, they do show significant and remarkable growth from their participation in the True Brother Initiative, which sets them apart from their peers and which potentiates adjustment, health, and success into the future.

Here are some of the most exciting results from our data analysis from the second year:

• Brothers demonstrated a significant increase in self awareness from association to initiation with a mean score of 44, compared to the normative mean of 37.5 (significant at the .01 level). For chapters that have not integrated Outer Circle components, no significant change is noted in this developmental competency.
• Brothers demonstrated a remarkable increase in capacity for empathy from association to Initiation with a mean score of 68.7, compared to a normative mean of 35.3 (significant at beyond the .001 level). Chapters most fully implementing Outer Circle components evidence an effect size almost eight times greater than chapters that have not integrated Outer Circle components.
• Brothers demonstrate a significant increase in altruism from association to Initiation with a comparison mean of 69.6 vs. the normative mean of 52.3 (significant at beyond the .001 level) with chapters most fully implementing Outer Circle components showing the greatest change.
• Brothers demonstrate a significant increase in capacity for intimacy from association to Initiation, with a mean score of 64.1 compared to the normative sample mean of 57.5 (significant at the .001 level). Chapters most fully implementing Outer Circle components evidenced almost six times the amount of growth compared to chapters not implementing Outer Circle components.
• The usual trend to decreased self esteem documented in studies of college freshmen did not occur among our brothers implementing Outer Circle components, although statistically significant changes were not demonstrated in any group.

Summary

In summary, our brothers evidenced significant, meaningful, and often remarkably large growth on four of the five developmental competencies that are the focus of True Brother which have been longitudinally assessed.

The greatest changes have occurred for brothers in those chapters that most fully utilize and implement Outer Circle components of the Initiative. The implications of fostering such maturational success are far-reaching, since the competencies are correlated with many measures and predictions of personal and relational health and success.

These data again demonstrate how Lambda Chi Alpha’s preferred undergraduate experience is operationalizing our Fraternity’s ritualistic and programmatic commitment to continual growth for every brother and our shared investment to help every man develop to his full potential.

This research and assessment project will continue into the third year with an additional focus on evaluating the impact of the Inner Circle on the operations of chapters that implement it and on the development of those brothers who choose to participate in it. We anticipate an even larger impact for this level of the initiative.