Aging among Jewish Americans: implications for understanding religion, ethnicity, and service needs

This article challenges popular conceptions of the nature of ethnicity and religiousness in the gerontological literature. Using the example of older Jewish Americans, the authors argue for more nuanced definitions and usage of terms such as "religion" and "ethnicity" in order to begin to understand the complex interweaving of these two dimensions in the lives of older persons.

The analyses used data from the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) as well as comparisons with the 1990 NJPS. There were 1,099 respondents aged 65 years and older in the 2000-2001 NJPS who reported themselves to be Jewish. This sample was then split into three groups: those who reported observing only Judaism and were affiliated with a denomination within Judaism (n = 776) or were not affiliated (n = 277) and those who reported observing another faith in addition to Judaism (n = 46).

Respondents to the 2000-2001 NJPS were older, wealthier, and less likely to be members of a religious denomination than those in the 1990 NJPS. Denominational affiliates were more likely than the other two groups to have a strong ethnic identity but less likely to indicate that religion was important in their lives. Denomination members were also more likely to be children or grandchildren of immigrants.

Several key assumptions in the study of ethnicity and religiousness in much of current gerontological research need reassessment especially assumptions about the links between religious identification, beliefs, practices, and communal solidarity.