{
  "abstract": "Since October 7, 2023, protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict have occurred at colleges and universities across the United States. At some institutions these demonstrations have prompted civil rights investigations, interruptions to research funding, and/or revisions to campus speech policies. Government and university leaders have often cited concerns about Jewish students’ well-being as the impetus for these interventions. However, it is unclear to what extent these events, and the broader campus atmosphere around Judaism and Israel, have affected the well-being of Jewish students. Thus, we surveyed 3418 US college students from January-June 2025 (mean age = 20; 57% women; 68% White; 17% Asian; 12% Hispanic; 3% Black). Students completed questionnaires regarding demographics, anxiety, depression, loneliness, flourishing, sense of belonging, and campus atmosphere. The preregistered goals were to (1) evaluate Jewish students’ well-being relative to peers with other religious identities and (2) examine how strongly Jewish students’ well-being was related to sense of belonging on campus and perceptions of institutional atmosphere toward Israel and Judaism. With regard to the first goal, 47% of Jewish students reported being somewhat or very concerned about campus antisemitism. Nonetheless, on measures of depression, anxiety, loneliness, and flourishing, they reported similar well-being compared with students of other religions, and better well-being compared with students who did not endorse a religious identity. Similar patterns were observed in a large survey of US college students performed from 2016–2022. With regard to the second goal, Jewish students’ well-being in 2025 was positively associated with both perceiving a less hostile campus atmosphere and experiencing a greater sense of campus belonging. However, sense of belonging explained 2–4 times more variability in outcomes. These findings indicate that despite prevalent concerns about anti-semitism, Jewish students had similar or better well-being than peers 15–20 months after the hostilities of October 7, 2023.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute for Policy Research, School of Education and Social Policy, and Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, EvanstonIllinois, United States of America",
    "Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston IL and Brown University, ProvidenceRhode Island, United States of America",
    "Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, ChicagoIllinois, United States of America",
    "University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America",
    "Institute for Policy Research and Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, EvanstonIllinois, United States of America"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 7,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Simone Ispa-Landa"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Avital Strauss"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Eleanor Ostroff"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Harrison Garcia"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Yonatan Lean"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jonathan Kfir"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gregory E. Miller"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c5tqg426ed3ak.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0357478",
  "fulltext_url": null,
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    "1932-6203"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357478",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3317|Jewish Identity and Society"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive science/Cognitive psychology/Perception/Sensory perception"
    ],
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      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Neuroscience/Sensory perception"
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      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Perception/Sensory perception"
    ],
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      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Mental health and psychiatry"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Medicine and health sciences/Public and occupational health/Behavioral and social aspects of health"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/People and places/Geographical locations/North America/United States"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/People and places/Population groupings/Religious faiths/Judaism"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Research design/Survey research/Surveys"
    ],
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      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Anthropology/Cultural anthropology/Religion"
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    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Psychology/Cognitive psychology/Perception/Sensory perception"
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      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Sociology/Education/Schools"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Social sciences/Sociology/Religion"
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  "openalex": "W7212262808",
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-11",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c5tqg426ed3ak.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:56Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0357478",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357478"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:neuroscience",
      "subfield": "neuroscience"
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    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:public and occupational health",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
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    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:mental health and psychiatry",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
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  ],
  "title": "The well-being of Jewish college students in the United States",
  "title_text": "The well-being of Jewish college students in the United States",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:56Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/c5tqg426ed3ak",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
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}