‘BORN AGAIN’ JEWS IN ISRAEL: THE DYNAMICS OF AN IDENTITY CHANGE*

Fifty-nine Israeli men who had switched to Orthodox Judaism and fifty-nine Israeli men who remained secular were the experimental and control groups of this study. The two groups, matched for several personal background variables, were interviewed and then filled out a biographical inventory and two questionnaires. Thirty measures were extracted and the two groups were compared on them. Significant differences were found in 14 of the measures. Those who had turned Orthodox showed higher scores on the F scale, and less identification with their parents. They were also lower in self-esteem and level of aspirations, and higher in their readiness to seek help. The findings are mostly consistent with results of research in other times and places, as reported by other authors.     

An evaluation of the Quay-Peterson revised behavior problem checklist

The RBPC is perhaps the most valid of all currently available teacher rating scales in terms of factor structure and related measures of validity. Clearly, however, additional research on the concurrent and predictive validity of this instrument is needed. The RBPC is adequately reliable in terms of test-retest reliability and interrater reliability when comparing two teachers and two parents. The lack of representative national norms creates a serious problem for the use of the RBPC by school psychologists, but some useful normative information is available and it would be a relatively easy task to develop local norms.