The Next Generation: Jewish Children and Adolescents

by Keysar, Ariela; Kosmin, Barry A.; Scheckner, Jeffrey

• ISBN13: 9780791445440
• ISBN10: 0791445445
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-06-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

Drawing on the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS), the book questions the future of the Jewish community's next generation.

The authors probe topics that have crucial policy implications for dealing with the new conditions of the American Jewish populace including the demographic and social characteristics of American Jewish children; the effect on children's socialization due to differences in parental religious background; the role of household composition and family structure on the way Jewish children are raised; the impact of children on the Jewishness of their families; and the demographic projects for the younger Jewish population.

Author Biography

Ariela Keysar is a Research Fellow at the North American Jewish Data Bank at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York Jeffrey Scheckner is the administrator of this institution and is also Research Consultant for United Jewish Communities (formerly the Council of Jewish Federations) Barry A. Kosmin is Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research in London, England. Formerly he was Director of Research at the Council of Jewish Federations and Director of the North American Jewish Data Bank

Table of Contents

Tables and Figures	xi
Foreword	xv
Acknowledgments	xvii
Introduction and Plan for Analysis	xix
Theory and Methodology	1	(12)
Religious Socialization	1	(1)
Socialization of Children	2	(2)
Adolescent Development	4	(4)
Socialization into a Subculture	8	(2)
The 1990 NJPS Survey Methodology	10	(1)
Definitions and Qualifying Points	11	(2)
The Demography of the Jewish Child Population	13	(12)
Introduction	13	(1)
Age Distribution	14	(1)
Demographic Profile by Category of Jewishness	14	(2)
Age Distribution by Category of Jewishness	16	(1)
Age Distribution of the Core Jewish Child Population in Comparison with the White U.S. Child Population	17	(1)
Sex Ratios of Core Jewish Children	18	(1)
Geographic Distribution and Category of Jewishness by Census Region	19	(3)
Demographic Trends of the Jewish Child Population	22	(2)
Summary	24	(1)
The Impact of Home Background on the Socialization of Children	25	(22)
Introduction	25	(1)
Household Structure: Comparative Data of the Jewish and U.S. White Child Populations	26	(1)
Jewish Single-Parent Household Patterns	27	(2)
Parental Marriage Patterns and Custody Arrangements	29	(2)
Non-Normative Household Patterns	31	(1)
Household Composition and Per Capita Income	31	(3)
Working Mothers and Household Composition	34	(2)
Education of the Parents	36	(1)
Private versus Public Schooling for Children	37	(1)
Patterns of Jewish Education of the Children	38	(3)
Household Composition and Jewish Characteristics of the Family	41	(3)
Summary	44	(3)
Parental Decision Making Regarding Children's Religious Socialization	47	(18)
Introduction	47	(1)
The Jewish Child Population in Interfaith Families--the Data	48	(1)
Theoretical Framework	49	(1)
The Theory in Its Social Context	50	(1)
Data	51	(2)
Hypotheses	53	(1)
Methodology	53	(1)
Findings	54	(1)
Flowchart Analysis of CHAID Results	55	(3)
Multivariate Analysis	58	(1)
Beyond Religious Identity	58	(4)
Summary	62	(3)
Living in a Unique Jewish Environment: The Children of New York	65	(14)
Introduction	65	(3)
The Demographic Characteristics of the Children of New York	68	(1)
The Religious and Social Jewish Environment of Children in New York and the United States	68	(9)
Summary	77	(2)
It Takes a Whole Community to Raise Jewish Children	79	(12)
Introduction	79	(1)
Day-Care and After-School Programs under Jewish and Non-Jewish Auspices	79	(3)
Adoptive Families	82	(4)
Participation in Jewish Camping	86	(1)
Participation in Jewish Youth Groups	87	(1)
Summary	88	(3)
Population Projections for U.S. Jewish Children	91	(12)
Introduction	91	(1)
The Potential Jewish Child Population in 1990	91	(3)
Assumptions of the Demographic Projection Model	94	(1)
Projected Child Population: 1995---Demographic and Sociological Scenarios	95	(2)
1995 Projection---The Impact of Intermarriage	97	(1)
Year 2000 Projection---The Impact of Intermarriage	98	(1)
The Decline in Potential Mothers	98	(1)
Raising ``Effectively'' Jewish Children in Mixed Households in 1995 and 2000	99	(1)
Summary	100	(3)
Conclusion	103	(6)
From a Community Perspective	103	(6)
Appendix The Methodology of the National Jewish Population Survey	109	(20)
Joseph Waksberg
Notes	129	(4)
Works Cited	133	(8)
About the Authors	141	(2)
Subject Index	143	(6)
Index of Names	149