Measuring the Positivity of Jewish Experiences: Scale Development and Validatio

The rejection-identification model (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999) argues that the relationship between discrimination and well-being is mediated by ethnic identity. This model has not been supported in a study of Jewish Americans (Altman, 2010). The current study explores the role of a new construct, positive Jewish experiences, as a factor related to well-being for American Jews. The Jewish Experiences Scale (JES) was developed to measure this construct. The JES was developed over three phases with American Jewish participants ages 18-35. The first phase generated a pool of items and elicited focus group feedback about those items. The second phase recruited a pilot sample through MTurk to provide initial data about the scale's performance. The final phase recruited participants through snowball sampling to establish the validity of the measure as well as to explore the relationships between the positivity of Jewish experiences, anti-Semitic discrimination, Jewish identity, and well-being. Measures of well-being included cognitive component (life satisfaction), affective component (positive and negative affect), as well as a general measure of well-being. The JES has adequate reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .78). Evidence for convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of JES positivity scores is presented. Results indicate that the rejection-identification model was only supported when considering the relationships between experiences of discrimination, Jewish identity, and life satisfaction. Jewish identity did not mediate the relationships between JES scores and any of the four well-being variables. Positivity of Jewish experiences was related to Jewish identity and to all four well-being variables. Jewish identity was not related to three of the four aspects of well-being and implications of this finding are discussed. Limitations of the two sampling methods and the changing American sociopolitical context are considered.