Hostname: page-component-758b78586c-72lk7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2023-11-30T03:26:54.573Z Has data issue: false Feature Flags: { "corePageComponentGetUserInfoFromSharedSession": true, "coreDisableEcommerce": false, "useRatesEcommerce": true } hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Long-term effects of trauma: Psychosocial functioning of the second and third generation of Holocaust survivors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2007

MIRI SCHARF
MIRI SCHARF
Affiliation:
University of Haifa, Israel
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The long-term effects of extreme war-related trauma on the second and the third generation of Holocaust survivors (HS) were examined in 88 middle-class families. Differences in functioning between adult offspring of HS (HSO) and a comparison group, as well as the psychosocial functioning of adolescent grandchildren of HS, were studied. Degree of presence of Holocaust in the family was examined in families in which both parents were HSO, either mother or father was HSO, and neither parent was HSO. Mothers' Holocaust background was associated with higher levels of psychological distress and less positive parenting representations. In line with synergic (multiplicative) models of risk, adolescents in families where both parents were HSO perceived their mothers as less accepting and less encouraging independence, and reported less positive self-perceptions than their counterparts. They also perceived their fathers as less accepting and less encouraging independence, showed higher levels of ambivalent attachment style, and according to their peers, demonstrated poorer adjustment during military basic training than their fellow recruits from the one-parent HSO group. Parents and adolescents in the one-parent HSO group functioned similarly to others with no Holocaust background. Parenting variables mediated the association across generations between degree of Holocaust experience in the family of origin of the parents and ambivalent attachment style and self-perception of the adolescents. It is recommended that researchers and clinicians develop awareness of the possible traces of trauma in the second and the third generation despite their sound functioning in their daily lives.Thanks to the families that participated in this study for their willingness to contribute their time and experience and for sharing with us some of their most precious moments. I also thank the very dedicated group of undergraduate and graduate research assistants who were involved in various phases of the research project. Special thanks are due to Inbal Kivenson-Baron for her help in coding of the parenting interviews and to Ofra Mayseless and Hadas Wiseman for their helpful and valuable suggestions regarding an earlier draft. The collection of the data reported here was partly supported by a research grant (awarded to Ofra Mayseless) from the Faculty of Education, University of Haifa.

Type
Research Article
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 603 - 622
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ancharoff, M. R., Munroe, J. F., & Fisher, L. M. (1998). The legacy of combat trauma: Clinical implications of intergenerational transmission. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. The Springer series on stress and coping (pp. 257–276). New York: Springer.
Bachar, E., Cale, M., Eisenberg, J., & Dasberg, H. (1994). TI: Aggression expression in grandchildren of Holocaust survivors: A comparative study. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 31, 41–47.Google Scholar
Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.Google Scholar
Bar-On, D. (1995). Fear and hope: Three generations of five Israeli families of Holocaust survivors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Boszormenyi-Nagy, I., & Spark, G. M. (1973). Invisible loyalties: Reciprocity in intergenerational family therapy. Oxford: Harper & Row.
Bowen, M. (1972). Family therapy and family group therapy. In H. I. Kaplan & B. J. Sadock (Eds.), Group treatment of mental illness. New York: E. P. Dutton.
Brom, D., Kfir, R., & Dasberg, H. (2001). A controlled double-blind study on children of Holocaust survivors. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 38, 47–57.Google Scholar
Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F., & Weintraub, J. K. (1989). Assessing coping strategies: A theoretically based approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56, 267–283.Google Scholar
Catz, M., & Orbach, D. (1990). Conscription of youth from special backgrounds [Research report]. Tel Aviv, Israel: Psychological Research Division of the IDF.
Central Bureau of Statistics. (1996). Statistical abstract of Israel. Jerusalem: Government of Israel, Central Bureau of Statistics.
Chodorow, N. J. (1989). Feminism and psychoanalytic theory. New Haven, CT: Harper.
Cicchetti, D., & Toth, S. L. (1995). Developmental psychopathology and disorders of affect. In D. Cicchetti & D. J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Vol. 2. Risk, disorder, and adaptation (pp. 369–420). Oxford: Wiley.
Crowell, J. A., Treboux, D., & Waters, E. (1999). The Adult Attachment Interview and the Relationship Questionnaire: Relations to reports of mothers and partners. Personal Relationships, 6, 1–18.Google Scholar
Cummings, E. M., Davies, P. T., & Campbell, S. B. (2000). Developmental psychopathology and family processes, theory, research and clinical implications. New York: Guilford Press.
D'Angelo, L. L., Weinberger, D. A., & Feldman, S. S. (1995). Like father, like son? Predicting male adolescents' adjustment from parents' distress and self-restraint. Developmental Psychology, 31, 883–896.Google Scholar
Danieli, Y. (1998). Introduction: History and conceptual foundations. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. The Springer series on stress and coping. New York: Springer.
Dar, Y., & Resh, N. (1990). Socioeconomic and ethnic gaps in academic achievement in Israeli junior high schools. In N. Bleichrodt & P. J. D. Drenth (Eds.), Contemporary issues in cross-cultural psychology (pp. 322–333). Amsterdam: Swets & Zeitlinger.
Dasberg, H. (1987). Psychological distress of Holocaust survivors and offspring in Israel, forty years later: A review. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 24, 243–256.Google Scholar
Derogatis, L. R., & Spencer, P. (1982). The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI): Administration, scoring and procedures manual. Baltimore, MD: Clinical Psychometric Research.
Epstein, S. (1983). The Mother–Father–Peer Scale. Unpublished manuscript, University of Massachusetts, Amhurst.
Feldman, S. S., & Weinberger, D. A. (1994). Self-restraint as a mediator of family influences on boys' delinquent behavior: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 65, 195–211.Google Scholar
Felsen, I. (1998). Transgenerational transmission of effects of the Holocaust: The North American research perspective. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. The Springer series on stress and coping (pp. 43–68). New York: Springer.
Felsen, I., & Erlich, H. S. (1990). Identification patterns of offspring of Holocaust survivors with their parents. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60, 506–520.Google Scholar
Figley, C. R. (1993). Coping with stressors on the home front. Journal of Social Issues, 49, 51–71.Google Scholar
Florian, V., & Drory, Y. (1990). Mental Health Inventory (MHI): Psychometric properties and normative data in the Israeli population. Psychologia: Israel Journal of Psychology, 2, 26–35.Google Scholar
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1980). An analysis of coping in a middle-aged community sample. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 219–239.Google Scholar
Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: A study of emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 150–170.Google Scholar
Frank, S., Avery, C. B., & Laman, M. S. (1988). Young adults' perceptions of their relationships with their parents: Individual differences in connectedness, competence, and emotional autonomy. Developmental Psychology, 24, 729–737.Google Scholar
Friedman, E. H. (1991). Bowen theory and therapy. In A. S. Gurman & D. P. Kniskern (Eds.), Handbook of family therapy (pp. 134–170). Philadelphia, PA: Brunner/Mazel.
Gampel, Y. (1988). Facing war, murder, torture, and death in latency. Psychoanalytic Review, 75, 499–509.Google Scholar
Garber, J. A., & Dubas, J. S. (1996). Leaving home: Understanding the transition to adulthood. New Directions for Child Development, No. 71. San Francisco, CA: Jossey–Bass.
Geuzaine, C., Debry, M., & Liesens, V. (2000). Separation from parents in late adolescence: The same for boys and girls? Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29, 79–91.Google Scholar
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Haas, A. (1990). In the shadow of the Holocaust: The second generation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.Google Scholar
Holmbeck, G. N. (1997). Toward terminological, conceptual, and statistical clarity in the study of mediators and moderators: Examples from the child—Clinical and pediatric psychology literature. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 599–610.Google Scholar
Holmbeck, G. N., & Leake, C. (1999). Separation-individuation and psychological adjustment in late adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 28, 563–581.Google Scholar
Josselson, R. (1987). Finding herself: Pathways to identity development in women. San Franciso, CA: Jossey–Bass.
Keinan, G., Mikulincer, M., & Rybnicki, A. (1988). Perception of self and parents by second-generation Holocaust survivors. Behavioral Medicine, 14, 6–12.Google Scholar
Kellerman, N. P. F. (2001a). The long-term psychological effects and tratment of Holocaust trauma. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 6, 197–218.Google Scholar
Kellerman, N. P. F. (2001b). Psychopathology in children of Holocaust survivors: A review of the research literature. Israel Journal of Psychiatry and Related Sciences, 38, 36–46.Google Scholar
Kestenberg, J. (1982). Psychoanalyses of children of survivors from the Holocaust: Case presentations and assessment. American Journal of Psychiatry, 145, 657–665.Google Scholar
Krell, R. (1993). Child survivors of the Holocaust: Strategies of adaptation. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 384–389.Google Scholar
Leon, G. R., Butcher, J. N., Kleinman, M., Goldberg, A., & Almagor, M. (1981). Survivors of the Holocaust and their children: Current status and adjustment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 503–516.Google Scholar
Lyons-Ruth, K., & Block, D. (1996). The disturbed caregiving system: Relations among childhood trauma, maternal caregiving, and infant affect and attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal, 17, 257–275.Google Scholar
Maccoby, E. (1990). Gender and relationships. American Psychologist, 45, 513–520.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, D. P., Warsi, G., & Dwyer, J. H. (1995). A simulation study of mediated effect measures. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 30, 41–62.Google Scholar
Main, M., & Hesse, E. (1990). Parents' unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In M. T. Greenberg & D. Cicchetti (Eds.), Attachment in the preschool years: Theory, research, and intervention. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation series on mental health and development (pp. 161–182). Chicago: University of Chicago.
Marcus, D. (1986). Emotional features in the experience of motherhood among daughters of Holocaust survivors. Unpublished master's thesis, University of Haifa, Department of Psychology.
Masten, A., & Reed, M. G. J. (2003). Resilience in development. In C. R. Snyder & S. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 74–88). London: Oxford University Press.
Mayseless, O., & Scharf, M. (2001a). Cohesion and relative power in family relationships and adolescent coping with a real-life stressful situation. In T. M. Gehring, M. Debry, & P. K. Smith (Eds.), The Family System Test (FAST): A new approach to investigate family relations in clinical research and practice (pp. 157–176). Hove: Routledge.
Mayseless, O., & Scharf, M. (2001b). Maternal representations of parenting, socioemotional functioning and coping of mother and adolescent sons with a stressful separation. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis.
Mayseless, O., & Scharf, M. (2002, July). Mothers' parenting representations and their son's coping with developmental tasks of emerging adulthood: Separation/individuation, and romantic intimacy. Paper presented at the Interpersonal Conference on Personal Relationships, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Mayseless, O., Scharf, M., & Solt, M. (2003). From authoritative parenting practices to an authoritarian context: Exploring the person–environment fit. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 13, 427–456.Google Scholar
Mikulincer, M., & Florian, V. (1995). Appraisal of and coping with a real-life stressful situation: The contribution of attachment styles. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 406–414.Google Scholar
Mikulincer, M., & Nachshon, O. (1991). Attachment styles and patterns of self-disclosure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 321–331.Google Scholar
Nadler, A., Kav Venaki, S., & Gleitman, B. (1985). Transgenerational effects of the Holocaust: Externalization of aggression in second generation of Holocaust survivors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53, 365–369.Google Scholar
Niederland, W. G. (1968). Clincal observations on the “Survivor Syndrome.” International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 49, 313–315.Google Scholar
Paulhus, D. (1983). Sphere-specific measures of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 1253–1265.Google Scholar
Ricks, M. H. (1985). The social transmission of parental behavior: Attachment across generations. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1–2, Serial No. 209), 211–227.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. P., Shaver, P. R., & Wrightsman, L. S. (Eds.). (1991). Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes: Measures of social psychological attitudes (Vol. 1). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Rubinstein, I., Cutter, F., & Templer, D. I. (1990). Multigenerational occurrence of survivor syndrome symptoms in families of Holocaust survivors. Journal of Death and Dying, 20, 239–244.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1983). Stress, coping, and development: Some issues and some questions. In N. Garmezy & M. Rutter (Eds.), Stress, coping, and development in children (pp. 1–41). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Rutter, M. (1987). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 57, 316–331.Google Scholar
Sagi-Schwartz, A., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Grossmann, K. E., Joels, T., Scharf, M., Koren-Karie, N., et al. (2003). Attachment and traumatic stress in female Holocaust child survivors and their daughters. American Journal of Psychiatry, 160, 1086–1092.Google Scholar
Scharf, M., & Mayseless, O. (1997/2000). Parenting Representations Interview—Adolescence (PRI-A). Unpublished manuscript, University of Haifa.
Scharf, M., & Mayseless, O. (2001). The capacity for romantic intimacy: Exploring the contribution of best friend and marital and parental relationships. Journal of Adolescence, 24, 379–399.Google Scholar
Scharf, M., Mayseless, O., & Kivenson-Baron, I. (2004). Adolescents' attachment representations and developmental tasks in emerging adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 40, 430–444.Google Scholar
Scharf, M., & Shulman, S. (2006). Intergenerational transmission of experiences in adolescence: The challenges of parenting adolescents. In O. Mayseless (Ed.), Representations of parenting: Theory, research and clinical implications (pp. 319–351). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Shafat, R. (1994). Commitment to parents as an unresolvable problem in children of Holocaust survivors [in Hebrew]. Sihot, 8, 23–27.Google Scholar
Sigal, J. J., DiNicola, V. F., & Buonvino, M. (1988). Grandchildren of survivors: Can negative effects of prolonged exposure to excessive stress be observed two generations later? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 33, 207–212.Google Scholar
Sigal, J. J., & Weinfeld, M. (1989). Trauma and rebirth: Intergenerational effects of the Holocaust. New York: Praeger.
Solomon, Z. (1995). The pathogenic effects of war stress: The Israeli experience. In S. E. Hobfoll & M. W. deVries (Eds.), Extreme stress and communities: Impact and intervention. NATO ASI series (pp. 229–246). New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press.
Solomon, Z. (1998). Transgenerational effects of the Holocaust: The Israeli research perspective. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. The Springer series on stress and coping (pp. 69–83). New York: Springer.
Solomon, Z., Waysman, M., Levy, G., & Fried, B. (1992). From front line to home front: A study of secondary traumatization. Family Process, 31, 289–302.Google Scholar
Steinberg, L. (1990). Autonomy, conflict, and harmony in the family relationship. In S. S. Feldman & G. R. Elliott (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 255–276). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Steinberg, L., & Silk, J. S. (2002). Parenting adolescents. In M. H. Bornstein (Ed.), Handbook of parenting: Vol. 1. Children and parenting (2nd ed., pp. 103–134). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
van IJzendoorn, M. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Sagi-Schwartz, A. (2003). Are children of Holocaust survivors less well-adapted? A meta-analytic investigation of secondary traumatization. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16, 459–469.Google Scholar
Veit, C. T., & Ware, J. E. (1983). The structure of psychological distress and well-being in general populations. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 51, 730–742.Google Scholar
Waysman, M., Mikulincer, M., Solomon, Z., & Weisenberg, M. (1993). Secondary traumatization among wives of posttraumatic combat veterans: A family typology. Journal of Family Psychology, 7, 104–118.Google Scholar
Wiseman, H., Barber, J. P., Raz, A., Yam, I., Foltz, C., & Livne-Snir, S. (2002). Parental communication of Holocaust experiences and interpersonal patterns in offspring of Holocaust survivors. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 26, 371–381.Google Scholar
Yehuda, R., Halligan, S. L., & Grossman, R. (2001). Childhood trauma and risk for PTSD: Relationship to intergenerational effects of trauma, parental PTSD, and cortisol excretion. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 733–753.Google Scholar
Yehuda, R., Schmeidler, J., Elkin, A., Wilson, S., Siever, L., Binder-Brynes, K., et al. (1998). Phenomenology and psychobiology of the intergenerational response to trauma. In Y. Danieli (Ed.), International handbook of multigenerational legacies of trauma. The Springer series on stress and coping (pp. 639–655). New York: Springer.
Yehuda, R., Schmeidler, J., Wainberg, M., Binder-Brynes, K., & Duvdevani, T. (1998). Vulnerability to posttraumatic stress disorder in adult offspring of Holocaust survivors. American Journal of Psychiatry, 155, 1163–1171.Google Scholar
Yuchtmann-Yaar, E., & Menachem, G. (1992). Socioeconomic achievements of holocaust survivors in Israel: The first and second generation. Contemporary Jewry, 13, 95–123.Google Scholar