The role of parental negative world assumptions in the intergenerational transmission of war trauma

Clinically relevant historical trauma sequelae: A systematic review

OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this systematic review (SR) was to present the current state of research on historical trauma, and the topics closely related to its semantic space that include intergenerational trauma, collective trauma, and extended cultural bodily and mental responses, in order to identify gaps in the literature that need to be addressed.

METHODS

A search of empirical studies from 1990 to 2022 was performed via Scopus, Web of Science, MEDLINE, EBSCOhost-PsychInfo, and Embase, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist.

RESULTS

The initial search yielded 1012 studies, 52 of which were included in the current review. The results show that the historical trauma concept has a high potential for new research in the field of Global Mental Health. Gaps in the literature were identified, including a lack of standard features of historical trauma, and assessments of historical trauma in additional contexts than its original fields of application with Indigenous Americans.

CONCLUSION

Although the introduction of the concept of historical trauma was intended to fill the gap of trauma-related difficulties not covered by the criteria of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this concept needs further scientific refinement.

Family History and Searching for Hidden Trauma—A Personal Commentary

Background: Searching family history is now popular through increased internet access coinciding with a need for understanding identity. Prior unresolved war trauma can help explain impacts on subsequent generations and the need to search for family narrative, particularly in refugee families. This paper explores the search for trauma narratives through personal family history research, with links to community groups. Method: The author’s own Polish family history research provides examples of trauma and loss from World War II in Poland. This is supplemented by quotes from an existing interview study of second-generation Poles to amplify themes and indicate their wider community relevance.

Families in the Shadow of Traumatic Experiences: Negative World Assumptions and Family Relationships

World assumptions (WAs) are cognitive schemas concerning an individual's views of themselves, the world, and others. Although it is well established that WAs are negatively distorted by trauma exposure and strongly associated with posttraumatic psychopathology, the potential impact of WAs on close interpersonal relationships remains largely uninvestigated. The current study explored the implications of veterans' and their spouses' WAs on their marital and parental relationships. Male Israeli veterans (N = 213) from the 1973 Yom Kippur War and their wives were assessed for WAs, marital adjustment, and positive parenting 35-37 years postwar. Analyses included actor-partner interdependence modeling with mediators (APIMem) and were conducted separately for the three domains of WAs: world benevolence, world meaningfulness, and self-worth. The results indicated that both husbands' and wives' lower scores for all domain-specific WA scales were associated with lower scores on measures of marital adjustment and positive parenting. Lower scores for both spouses on scales measuring world benevolence and self-worth were associated with a spillover from lower marital adjustment to lower positive parenting. Finally, associations between one spouse's lower WA scores and the other spouse's spillover from lower marital adjustment to lower positive parenting (i.e., cross-spillover effects) were identified for wives' world benevolence ratings and husbands' self-worth, ds = 0.14-0.72. These results point to the detrimental ramifications of negative WAs on family relationships and the dynamics between the marital and parental family subsystems.

The intergenerational sequelae of war captivity: the impact of a self-amplifying cycle of PTSD and attachment insecurities on offspring's attachment orientations

Background: War captivity is one of the most severe human-made traumatic events which lead to self-amplifying cycle of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and attachment insecurities. Solid evidence in the literature pointed out on the intergenerational transmission of PTSD symptoms. However, no research has been conducted on the intergenerational transmission of attachment insecurities and the effect of the self-amplifying cycle among former prisoners of war (ex-POWs) and their offspring attachment insecurities. Objective: This research aims to explore the intergenerational impact of a self-amplifying cycle of PTSD and attachment insecurities among ex-POWs on their offspring's attachment orientations. Method: We sampled dyads of Israeli ex-POWs of the Yom Kippur war and their adult offspring (ex-POW group) (n = 80) as well as dyads of Israeli veterans who fought in the Yom Kippur war, but were never held captive, and their adult offspring (control group) (n = 40). Veterans reported on PTSD severity and attachment orientations (anxiety, avoidance). Offspring reported on attachment orientations. We conducted (a) hierarchical regressions to predict offspring attachment orientations as a function of veterans' attachment orientations, and (b) moderated mediation analyses examining the role of veterans' PTSD in the intergenerational transmission of attachment orientations. Results: Ex-POWs' attachment anxiety was associated with offspring's reports of higher attachment anxiety and avoidance, and this intergenerational transmission of attachment was mediated by ex-POWs' PTSD severity. These effects were not significant in the control group. Conclusions: Decades after the war end, the intergenerational sequelae of war captivity are evident by the impact of the self-amplifying cycle of PTSD and attachment insecurities among ex-POWs and their offspring's attachment insecurities. Therefore, it is imperative for clinicians to recognize the intergenerational transmission and to focus not only on the trauma but also on the traumatized person's attachment injuries and the shattering of core beliefs about the world, self, and others, in the context of attachment-based therapies.