The well-being of Jewish college students in the United States.

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.