Strength, Stress, and Support: A Portrait of American Jewish Teen Well-Being

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This research was designed to explore how Jewish teens’ communal involvement, interpersonal connections, and perceptions of themselves as Jews relate to their overall well-being. Teens reported on their sense of well-being using the EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-Being, a validated scale that assesses five aspects of well-being derived from the field of positive psychology: engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness. The survey also asked teens to pinpoint sources of stress in their lives and highlight where and with whom they find support. While researchers have extensively documented declining teen well-being in the United States, the distinct experiences and challenges of American Jewish teens remain largely unexplored. To address this gap, researchers conducted a national survey of nearly 2,500 American Jewish teens, examining multiple dimensions of their well-being. The study, conducted during Spring 2024, investigated both sources of stress and systems of support, enabling us to identify key factors that enhance or diminish their overall well-being. This research revealed three key insights about Jewish teens’ well-being:

1. KEY FINDING: Teens who said that being Jewish is important to them reported higher levels of well-being.

   Among the factors studied, teens’ sense of well-being was most strongly connected to the personal importance they placed on being Jewish. This relationship was evident across all five dimensions of well-being measured in the study: engagement, perseverance, optimism, connectedness, and happiness. Teens’ perceptions of how important being Jewish was to their families also showed a positive relationship with their well-being, though this association was less pronounced than the link between personal importance and well-being. Participation in Jewish teen programming exhibited a minimal, yet still positive, correlation with teens’ overall sense of well-being. Teens cited the relationships they experienced with their peers in Jewish teen programs as being particularly influential in helping them feel like they could be their full, authentic selves, however, most teens felt that adults involved in Jewish teen programs had a limited understanding of contemporary teen experiences.

2. KEY FINDING: American Jewish teens face a dual burden: They contend with the universal challenges of adolescence while also grappling with unique pressures that arise from being Jewish.
   Alongside common stressors for teens like academic key findings performance and social dynamics, Jewish teens are experiencing heightened tension over recent geopolitical conflicts and increasingly prevalent antisemitism. Those who reported that being Jewish is important to them experienced higher levels of overall well-being but also tended to experience more stress related to Jewish-specific issues. The interplay between identity, stress, and resilience mirrors patterns observed in other minority adolescent populations, highlighting the influence of cultural identity on adolescent well-being.
3. Jewish teens have multiple contexts and people in their lives that allow for authentic self-expression, which supports positive well-being outcomes.

   Most survey respondents indicated that they feel free to be their full selves with Jewish friends and family. About half of all teens reported feeling the same sense of freedom with non-Jewish friends. When seeking advice, Jewish teens said that they were most likely to turn to friends and parents and far less likely to turn to Jewish leaders (i.e., clergy and youth program leaders). This study sheds light on the tension at the heart of American Jewish teens’ well-being, where identity centrality emerges as both a source of strength and a potential driver of increased stress. This complex portrait presents a challenge for Jewish organizations, communal professionals, and educators who work in teen-facing settings. While teen engagement strategies have focused on enhancing teens’ sense of their Jewish selves, our findings suggest the need for a more nuanced approach that acknowledges the relationship between social stressors, well-being, and teens’ expressed sense of Jewish importance. Supporting Jewish teens may require providing opportunities for authentic self-expression, equipping them to engage in challenging discussions, and empowering them to ask difficult questions. While the path forward is neither simple nor straightforward, this report provides empirical grounding from which innovative responses might emerge.

“Strength, Stress, and Support: A Portrait of American Jewish Teen Well-Being,” BeWell, JFNA, and Stanford University, February 2025