An investigation of Jewish ethnic identity and identification and their psychological correlates for American Jews

The nature of Jewish identity was investigated in this study. It was suggested that Jewish identity is an ethnic identity, which is different from Jewish identification. It was also suggested that Jewish ethnic identity is related to measures of well-being and religiosity and spirituality. The instruments of this study included the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, the Collective Self-Esteem Scale, the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, the National Jewish Population Survey Identification Scale, the Global Spirituality Assessment Inventory, the Religious Orientation Scale, and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Two samples of participants completed these measures on the Internet. The first sample consisted of college students recruited from the Research Experience Program at The Ohio State University. The second sample was recruited from various organizations in the community.The findings of this study indicate that Jewish identity is an ethnic identity. Jewish ethnic identity was positively correlated with Jewish Identification, lower rates of depression, higher self-esteem, and higher rates of satisfaction with life. Jewish ethnic identity was also found to be related to measures of religiosity and spirituality, and this relationship was moderated by Jewish identification.Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Ohio State University, 2006.School code: 0168

Scared stiff? The effectiveness of threat appeals in counseling services advertising to high-anxiety students

This exploratory study proposes and tests a theoretical model that analyzes threat appeals in regard to their effectiveness for high-anxiety students, one of the major target groups for counseling services. In particular, affective and cognitive responses to a threat appeal advertisement and their effects on attitude toward the advertisement and behavior are examined. The results suggest that a strong threat appeal is not effective for counseling services but that positive emotions toward the advertisement and cognitive involvement have a positive impact on advertising outcomes. The study contributes further to knowledge of threat appeal effectiveness, targeting "anxious" audiences. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc