The New York Jewish Student Syndrome: Stereotype and Facts

Abstract

Psychiatric professionals at a midwestern university outpatient clinic consistently describe certain symptom characteristics for New York Jewish (NY‐J) students. All student applicants during 1966‐67 completed pre‐intake questionnaires, which included a previously validated 20‐item symptom checklist. Neither NY‐J male or female students could be distinguished on stated symptoms from urban non‐Jews or other Jewish students more than expected by chance. Differences obtained were mainly in expressive style, including a search for “meaning” by the NY‐J students; however, the forces inherent in “studenthood” appeared to make the various ethnic and demographic groups more similar than different.