Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1 1988 Page 6
Cult vs. Non-Cult Jewish Families: Factors Influencing Conversion
Mark I. Sirkin, Ph. D.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center
Bruce A. Grellong, Ph. D.
Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, New York
Abstract
This study investigated factors predisposing individuals to conversion by cult
groups. Forty-two Jewish families with at least one child in a cult group were
compared with 45 Jewish families of similar SES with no cult involvement. The
Family Environment Scale (Moos &Moos, 1981), a questionnaire, and a semi-
structured interview were used to collect data from parents about their child and
family. Results indicated that, although similar in many respects, the two groups
differed in three important ways. Discriminant analysis demonstrated that, in the
cult-involved group, the child was more likely to have had a history of psychological
difficulties and problems in living the family tended to be less emotionally
expressive and implicitly more critical and, for these young adults, religious
solutions for life's difficulties seemed to be a viable option. The transition to
adulthood seemed particularly difficult for the cult-involved person.
The news media continue to report about cultic proselytizing and recruitment, as well as the
emotional and sometimes financial distress experienced by the cult recruit and his or her family
(e.g., Brooks, 1986 Conason &McGarrahan, 1986 Hoffman, 1986). In response, programs have
appeared which serve as information centers, referral agencies, and counseling centers for former
group members and/or families. The Cult Hot-line and Clinic, jointly sponsored by the Jewish
Board of Family and Children's Services and the Jewish Community Relations Council in New York
City, is one such program. It provides information about nontraditional religious groups and
counseling services to former group members as well as to families whose lives have been
disrupted by the loss of a son or daughter to such a group.
This paper reports on a study at the Cult Hot-line and Clinic. The study contrasted parental
perceptions of family patterns and children's developmental history of a group of parents whose
children were involved in cults with a group whose children were comparable in many respects,
but who were not involved. The parents of young people who were cult-involved had applied to
the clinic in response to their own distress or belief that they and/or their child had a problem The
noncult-involved parents were volunteers recruited as a contrast group for the cult-involved
parents.
Viewed as a mental health problem, cult involvement poses unique difficulties for researchers and
clinicians. The groups themselves can be viewed from various perspectives depending on one's
classification schema (Sirkin, Markowitz, &Grellong, 1983). Groups vary according to doctrine as
well as to practices of isolation, coercion, deception, and alteration of personal cognitive and
emotional development. While membership in such groups is readily acknowledged as deviant by
society (Marciano, 198 1), the presence of individual psychopathology, among members or as a
factor accounting for entry into a group, has been hotly debated (Robbins &Anthony, 1982).
Although cult involvement may be fully ego-syntonic for the involved individual, it may be
dystonic for the rest of the family system. That is, family members, especially parents, may
experience great distress when relationships are strained or ties broken due to involvement in
extremist groups. Because cult-involved individuals are often unresponsive to those not overtly
sympathetic to their strongly held beliefs, they are usually unavailable for research purposes.
Therefore, parents have been used in the present study as a source of information about the cult-
involved individual and the family system in general. While acknowledging that data directly from
Cult vs. Non-Cult Jewish Families: Factors Influencing Conversion
Mark I. Sirkin, Ph. D.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester Medical Center
Bruce A. Grellong, Ph. D.
Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services, New York
Abstract
This study investigated factors predisposing individuals to conversion by cult
groups. Forty-two Jewish families with at least one child in a cult group were
compared with 45 Jewish families of similar SES with no cult involvement. The
Family Environment Scale (Moos &Moos, 1981), a questionnaire, and a semi-
structured interview were used to collect data from parents about their child and
family. Results indicated that, although similar in many respects, the two groups
differed in three important ways. Discriminant analysis demonstrated that, in the
cult-involved group, the child was more likely to have had a history of psychological
difficulties and problems in living the family tended to be less emotionally
expressive and implicitly more critical and, for these young adults, religious
solutions for life's difficulties seemed to be a viable option. The transition to
adulthood seemed particularly difficult for the cult-involved person.
The news media continue to report about cultic proselytizing and recruitment, as well as the
emotional and sometimes financial distress experienced by the cult recruit and his or her family
(e.g., Brooks, 1986 Conason &McGarrahan, 1986 Hoffman, 1986). In response, programs have
appeared which serve as information centers, referral agencies, and counseling centers for former
group members and/or families. The Cult Hot-line and Clinic, jointly sponsored by the Jewish
Board of Family and Children's Services and the Jewish Community Relations Council in New York
City, is one such program. It provides information about nontraditional religious groups and
counseling services to former group members as well as to families whose lives have been
disrupted by the loss of a son or daughter to such a group.
This paper reports on a study at the Cult Hot-line and Clinic. The study contrasted parental
perceptions of family patterns and children's developmental history of a group of parents whose
children were involved in cults with a group whose children were comparable in many respects,
but who were not involved. The parents of young people who were cult-involved had applied to
the clinic in response to their own distress or belief that they and/or their child had a problem The
noncult-involved parents were volunteers recruited as a contrast group for the cult-involved
parents.
Viewed as a mental health problem, cult involvement poses unique difficulties for researchers and
clinicians. The groups themselves can be viewed from various perspectives depending on one's
classification schema (Sirkin, Markowitz, &Grellong, 1983). Groups vary according to doctrine as
well as to practices of isolation, coercion, deception, and alteration of personal cognitive and
emotional development. While membership in such groups is readily acknowledged as deviant by
society (Marciano, 198 1), the presence of individual psychopathology, among members or as a
factor accounting for entry into a group, has been hotly debated (Robbins &Anthony, 1982).
Although cult involvement may be fully ego-syntonic for the involved individual, it may be
dystonic for the rest of the family system. That is, family members, especially parents, may
experience great distress when relationships are strained or ties broken due to involvement in
extremist groups. Because cult-involved individuals are often unresponsive to those not overtly
sympathetic to their strongly held beliefs, they are usually unavailable for research purposes.
Therefore, parents have been used in the present study as a source of information about the cult-
involved individual and the family system in general. While acknowledging that data directly from
