OPINION
CONTENTS
Are Jewish Moms
Right About Divorces?
Horse Country
A new study shows that adult
friendships with other Jews may
discourage intermarriage.
CHARLES HOFFMAN
Special to The Jewish News
T
he young American
Jewish male living in
a "normal" Jewish
family situation may be
quickly becoming a vanishing
species, according to a study
released last week in the
United States. The study
shows that half of all Jewish
men under 40 are either in-
termarried, divorced or both.
Of the remainder, a good por-
tion are single.
The study was conducted by
Barry Kosmin, director of the
North American Jewish Data
Bank; Egon Mayer, professor
For those under
40, 37 percent of
the men and 24
percent of the
women married a
non-Jew in their
first marriage.
of sociology at Brooklyn Col-
lege; and Nava Lerer. The
research examined the
marital histories of 6,457
Jewish adults in nine
American cities, making it
the largest and most
representative sample ever
obtained.
The researchers found that
what Jewish mothers said
about marrying a non-Jew is
true: intermarriages end in
divorce nearly twice as often
as marriages between two
Jews. The divorce rates men-
tioned in the study do not in-
clude "conversionary mar-
riages" — those in which the
non-Jewish partner converted
to Judaism.
"The findings of this study
are both surprising and
disturbing," Kosmin said.
"We have seen a steady
growth in the incidence of in-
termarriage among Jews
since the mid-1960s.
Therefore, we expected that
such marriages would become
more like other marriages as
they became a common
feature of American Jewish
life. But we found that inter-
marriages continue to have a
much higher risk of divorce
than marriages between two
Jews — in every age group."
Charles Hoffman is Jewish
affairs editor for the
Jerusalem Post.
Mayer said he found
numerous ironies in the fin-
dings. "For example, Jews
who remarry after a divorce
are about three times as like-
ly to intermarry as Jews who
are marrying for the first
time. This shows a
remarkable willingness to
take the risk of a second
divorce.
"We also found that Jewish
women who intermarry are
far more likely to get divorc-
ed than Jewish men who in-
termarry. Yet the rate of in-
termarriage among Jewish
women has grown much
faster in the last 20 years
than the rate among Jewish
men." Among all age groups,
it was found that 14 percent
of the sample married outside
of the community in their
first marriage, and 40 percent
in their second marriage. For
those under 40, 37 percent of
the men and 24 percent of the
women married a non-Jew in
their first marriage. Half of
all Jewish males under 40 are
either intermarried, divorced
or both (which means that
they are divorced from a non-
Jewish partner); about 38 per-
cent of the females find
themselves in the same situa-
tion. The researchers conclud-
ed that "the evidence sug-
gests that these proportions
are bound to increase over the
coming years for the Jewish
population as a whole."
The rate of intermarriage
has increased over the past 30
years about fivefold for men
and about twelvefold for
women. Since there are still
a higher proportion of Jewish
men intermarrying than
Jewish women, this creates
demographic pressure on
Jewish women to seek non-
Jewish partners as well.
The current rate of divorce
for first marriages, among all
age groups, is 19 percent. But
among those who married
other Jews, the rate is 17 per-
cent, while for those who in-
termarried it is 32 percent.
There is a significant dif-
ference in the divorce rates of
Jewish men and women who
intermarry. Among women
the rate is 38 percent, while
among men it is 25 percent.
Jewish women who inter-
marry are far more likely to
get divorced than those who
marry Jewish men.
Upon remarriage, there is
Continued on Page 10
22
CLOSE-UP
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52
FICTION
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SINGLE LIFE
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DEPARTMENTS
28
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41
58
Inside Washington
Media Monitor
Life In Israel
Community
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74
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114
Travel
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Obituaries
CANDLELIGHTING
70
8:31 p.m.
August 4, 1989
9:37 p.m.
Sabbath ends Aug. 5
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
7.