Consistency and Importance of Jewish Identity and One's Own or One's Child's Intermarriage

Abstract

This study finds that Jews in the United States tend to maintain an internally consistent Jewish identity even when, contrary to Jewish tradition they or one of their children, are currently in an interfaith marriage. Specifically, the rate of interfaith marriage is inversely related to a respondent's acceptance of a given component of a traditional Jewish identity such as Jewish religiosity, ethnicity, as reflected in attachment to Israel, or concern over anti-Semitism, and, conversely, directly related to the degree of assimilation or Americanization. Similar, but weaker, results are found with respect to the rates of interfaith marriage of a child of a respondent. The importance of being Jewish is also related to intermarriage rates, one's own or that of one's child; however, consistency is not found when being Jewish is not very important. It is suggested that Heider 's formulations of a theory of cognitive balance would be useful as a guide to future research.