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Denominational Differences in US Synagogues' Promotion of Youth Physical Activity Programming

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Abstract

Less than 25% of US children 6–17 years of age are sufficiently active. Faith-based settings are one of the nine societal sectors tasked with promoting physical activity (PA). Religious organizations frequently use diverse media, including websites, bulletins/newsletters, and calendars to inform current/potential members of events. These could be used to inform youth congregants about PA programs and/or various programs (e.g., worship, social group) with a PA component. We aimed to identify types of PA offerings available to youth and detect disparities by denomination. We performed a systematic line-by-line analysis of website content for a nationally representative, proportionate random sample of 1386 US synagogues representing five denominations: Humanistic (n = 24), Reconstructionist (n = 86), Reform (n = 462), Conservative (n = 368), and Orthodox (n = 446). We utilized crosstabulations and post hoc analyses (z scores) to identify denominational differences by a priori determined program type: education, worship, youth group, and preschool. Only 35% of the synagogues overall mentioned provision of at least one PA across program types. Proportions by denomination included: Humanistic (8%), Reconstructionist (48%), Reform (29%), Conservative (60%), and Orthodox (21%). There were denominational differences for education, worship, and preschool, with Conservative synagogue websites mentioning PA programs more frequently than expected. Future research should survey synagogue clergy and those overseeing media content toward understanding the decision-making process for mentioning/omitting PA when advertising youth programming.

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Data Availability

Data are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3902451.

Notes

  1. There are camps that were established before and contemporaneous to Ramah. Habonim Dror (1932), Moshava (1936), and URJ (1952) maintain websites on which we found current content that illustrates the many physical and sport activities available to campers as part of their daily schedule, as well as a specialty sports camp (i.e., URJ’s 6 Points Sports Academy in North Carolina). However, Gurock (2005) identifies Ramah individually.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, ENS Building 315, San Diego, CA, 92182-7251, USA

    David Kahan, Thomas L. McKenzie & Maya Satnick

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  1. David Kahan
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  2. Thomas L. McKenzie
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  3. Maya Satnick
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Correspondence to David Kahan.

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The study (Protocol 2699) was exempted by the San Diego State University Institutional Review Board because it made use of publicly available data and did not use human subjects.

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Kahan, D., McKenzie, T.L. & Satnick, M. Denominational Differences in US Synagogues' Promotion of Youth Physical Activity Programming. J Relig Health 60, 4521–4536 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-021-01272-z

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