The well-being of Jewish college students in the United States
5 affiliations
- 1Institute for Policy Research, School of Education and Social Policy, and Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, EvanstonIllinois, United States of America
- 2Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston IL and Brown University, ProvidenceRhode Island, United States of America
- 3Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, ChicagoIllinois, United States of America
- 4University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America
- 5Institute for Policy Research and Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, EvanstonIllinois, United States of America
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.
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BibTeX
@article{ispalanda2026wellbeing,
title = {{The well-being of Jewish college students in the United States}},
author = {Simone Ispa-Landa and Avital Strauss and Eleanor Ostroff and Harrison Garcia and Yonatan Lean and Jonathan Kfir and Gregory E. Miller},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0357478},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357478},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The well-being of Jewish college students in the United States
AU - Simone Ispa-Landa
AU - Avital Strauss
AU - Eleanor Ostroff
AU - Harrison Garcia
AU - Yonatan Lean
AU - Jonathan Kfir
AU - Gregory E. Miller
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/11
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0357478
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0357478
AB - 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.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -