ATTITUDES TOWARD INTERFAITH HETEROSEXUAL SOCIALIZING IN A GROUP OF JEWISH TEENAGERS.

Much of the research regarding interfaith heterosexual socializing has been addressed to the problems surrounding interfaith marriage. Recently, while carrying out a study of attitudes and values of Jewish teenagers in a middle-sized city in Pennsylvania, the author had an opportunity to examine some of the social and attitudinal precursors of marriage presumably influencing subsequent intermarriage behavior. The information was obtained by means of a questionnaire developed originally by the American Jewish Committee, and adapted for use in the present research. Scattered throughout the questionnaire, whose overall purpose was to elicit responses regarding a wide range of topics related to Jewish identity, are a number of items designed specifically to yield some estimate of interfaith heterosexual attitudes among Jewish teenagers The primary concern of this article is with the results obtained through this group of items. The sample consisted of 225 Jewish teenagers who came to the Jewish Community Center on a Sunday in January, 1965, in response to mailed invitations.