The Next Generation: Jewish Children and Adolescents

The Next Generation offers valuable analyses of the critical issues concerning the entire United States Jewish community. Drawing on the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS), the book questions the future of the Jewish community's next generation. Children are the key to the future and continuity of any social, religious or ethnic group. But researchers point to some disturbing trends. A recent study shows that in families with a Jewish and a non-Jewish parent, only 31 percent of children are raised Jewish; only 24 percent of children living in a single-parent household have received any Jewish education; and only about half of all Jewish children today live with two Jewish parents. 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.

Table of Contents:
Tables and Figures Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction and Plan for Analysis Chapter One Theory and Methodology Religious Socialization Socialization of Children Adolescent Development Socialization into a Subculture The 1990 NJPS Survey Methodology Definitions and Qualifying Points Chapter Two The Demography of the Jewish Child Population Introduction Age Distribution Demographic Profile by Category of Jewishness Age Distribution by Category of Jewishness Age Distribution of the Core Jewish Child Population in Comparison with the White U.S. Child Population Sex Ratios of Core Jewish Children Geographic Distribution and Category of Jewishness by Census Region Demographic Trends of the Jewish Child Population Summary Chapter Three The Impact of Home Background on the Socialization of Children Introduction Household Structure: Comparative Data of the Jewish and U.S. White Child Populations Jewish Single-Parent Household Patterns Parental Marriage Patterns and Custody Arrangements Non-Normative Household Patterns Household Composition and Per Capita Income Working Mothers and Household Composition Education of the Parents Private versus Public Schooling for Children Patterns of Jewish Education of the Children Household Composition and Jewish Characteristics of the Family Summary Chapter Four Parental Decision Making Regarding Children's Religious Socialization Introduction The Jewish Child Population in Interfaith Families—the Data Theoretical Framework The Theory in Its Social Context Data Hypotheses Methodology Findings Flowchart Analysis of CHAID Results Multivariate Analysis Beyond Religious Identity Summary Chapter Five Living in a Unique Jewish Environment: The Children of New York Introduction The Demographic Characteristics of the Children of New York The Religious and Social Jewish Environment of Children in New York and the United States Summary Chapter Six It Takes a Whole Community to Raise Jewish Children Introduction Day-Care and After-School Programs under Jewish and Non-Jewish Auspices Adoptive Families Participation in Jewish Camping Participation in Jewish Youth Groups Summary Chapter Seven Population Projections for U.S. Jewish Children Introduction The Potential Jewish Child Population in 1990 Assumptions of the Demographic Projection Model Projected Child Population: 1995—Demographic and Sociological Scenarios 1995 Projection—The Impact of Intermarriage Year 2000 Projection—The Impact of Intermarriage The Decline in Potential Mothers Raising "Effectively" Jewish Children in Mixed Households in 1995 and 2000 Summary Chapter Eight Conclusion From a Community Perspective Appendix The Methodology of the National Jewish Population Survey by Joseph Waksberg Notes Works Cited About the Authors Subject Index Index of Names