The effect of Orthodox Jewish education on adolescent identity : a case study

Abstract

Orthodox Jewish adolescents develop and mature within a very structured environment. The aim of this study was to explore adolescent psychosocial identity development within Orthodox Jewish education. The secondary focus was the nature of the religious identity acquired through religious education, specifically Jewish Orthodox education. The literature study explored adolescent identity and development (within Erikson's framework), religious orientation and Orthodox Jewish education. The qualitative research was conducted empirically, in the form of a case study of seven adolescents from a single-sex Orthodox school based in Johannesburg. The themes that emerged from the empirical study are as follows: the community; Orthodox Judaism; education; parents, family and peers; adolescent and religious identity. The study indicated that the participants' identity development is dominated by their religious psychosocial world that paradoxically provides the structure that supports and complicates their identity development.