NEW YORK (Mar. 14)
The home life of the contemporary American Jewish family, including the traditional and religious influences that have affected it, is described in a study, “The Jewish Family, ” published today by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.
Noting that “differences are not as great as similarities” among the contemporary American Jewish family and other American family groups, the ADL says that “Nevertheless, distinctions can be made. Statistically, these are some of the characteristics of the American Jewish family:
1. “The American Jewish family is likely to reside in or near a large city. (Slightly over 87.4 percent of American Jews over the age of 14 live in urbanized areas of 250,000 population or more as compared to 53..9 percent of Roman Catholics and 24. 5 percent of white Protestants.) As a unit, the American Jewish family is smaller than its Roman Catholic and Protestant counterparts, and the parents, on the average, are some what older.
2. “Total marriage rates are higher and divorce rates are lower for American Jews than they are for the general American population: there is a lower rate of juvenile delinquency among Jewish adolescents, and the rate of alcoholism among American Jews is also low. “
Another characteristic of American Jewish family life is “continuing respect for education and culture. The value Jews place on educational training is partly reflected in the fact that a proportionally high percentage of them attend colleges, postgraduate and professional schools (62 percent, as opposed to 26 percent of the general population). “