Leaving a Covenantal Religion: Orthodox Jewish Disaffiliation from an Immigration Psychology Perspective

Leaving a Covenantal Religion: Orthodox Jewish Disaffiliation from an Immigration Psychology Perspective. Engelman, J., Milstein, G., Schonfeld, I. S., & Grubbs, J. B. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, February, 2020.
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This study explored psychological variables associated with disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism (a covenantal community), and subsequent wellness. A web-based survey (N = 206) assessed factors previously used to study immigrants: push (distress within origin community), pull (toward destination community), and goal attainment. Psychological and emotional wellness, perceived stress, overall health, and loneliness were also assessed. Findings included: 1) strong pull toward opportunities for physical and ideological autonomy; 2) those who experienced more push toward disaffiliation, reported decreased current wellness; 3) goal attainment was associated with increased wellness 4) significant differences in the experiences of disaffiliation between men and women; 5) most who disaffiliated left religion altogether; those who remained religious decreased their participation, few joined non-Jewish faith communities. Results demonstrate that this immigration paradigm can be adapted to advance research on individuals who disaffiliate from covenantal communities.

@article{engelmanLeavingCovenantalReligion2020,
  title = {Leaving a Covenantal Religion: {{Orthodox Jewish}} Disaffiliation from an Immigration Psychology Perspective},
  shorttitle = {Leaving a Covenantal Religion},
  author = {Engelman, Joel and Milstein, Glen and Schonfeld, Irvin Sam and Grubbs, Joshua B.},
  year = {2020},
  month = feb,
  journal = {Mental Health, Religion \& Culture},
  volume = {Online First},
  doi = {10.1080/13674676.2020.1744547},
  abstract = {This study explored psychological variables associated with disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism (a covenantal community), and subsequent wellness. A web-based survey (N = 206) assessed factors previously used to study immigrants: push (distress within origin community), pull (toward destination community), and goal attainment. Psychological and emotional wellness, perceived stress, overall health, and loneliness were also assessed. Findings included: 1) strong pull toward opportunities for physical and ideological autonomy; 2) those who experienced more push toward disaffiliation, reported decreased current wellness; 3) goal attainment was associated with increased wellness 4) significant differences in the experiences of disaffiliation between men and women; 5) most who disaffiliated left religion altogether; those who remained religious decreased their participation, few joined non-Jewish faith communities. Results demonstrate that this immigration paradigm can be adapted to advance research on individuals who disaffiliate from covenantal communities.},
  copyright = {All rights reserved},
  file = {/Volumes/GoogleDrive/My Drive/Manuscripts/Zotero/storage/CM2HKDBP/Engelman et al. - 2019 - Leaving a Covenantal Religion Orthodox Jewish Dis.pdf}
}

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