Negative Beliefs, Sentiments, and Discriminatory Behavior Toward Jews: A Developmental Review.

This article systematically reviews 85 studies conducted since World War II on the development of anti-Jewish biases—encompassing cognitive, affective, and behavioral components—in childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. The research, primarily from the United States, Israel, and Western countries, reveals that children begin to categorize social groups early, often essentializing Jewish identity and acquiring negative stereotypes that increase with age, alongside growing antisemitic attitudes and behaviors linked in emerging adults to anti-Israel sentiment. Jewish youth are aware of and concerned about antisemitism but frequently hesitate to confront it, while research on socialization influences such as family, peers, schools, neighborhoods, and media remains limited. Intervention studies, mostly in Israel, suggest that educational programs and positive intergroup contact can reduce biases, but more theory-driven, longitudinal, and contextually diverse research is needed to better understand and mitigate antisemitism's development and its impacts on Jewish youth.