Parental communication of Holocaust experiences and interpersonal patterns in offspring of Holocaust survivors

Hadas Wiseman, Jacques P. Barber, Alon Raz, Idit Yam, Carol Foltz, Sharon Livne-Snir

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study examined the interpersonal problems and central relationship patterns of Holocaust Survivors' Offspring (HSO) who were characterised by different patterns of parental communication of their parents' Holocaust trauma. Fifty-six adults born to mothers who were survivors of Nazi concentration camps and 54 adults born to parents who immigrated to Israel before 1939 with their own parents (non-HSO) were recruited randomly from an Israeli sample. While the groups did not differ in their current mental health, HSO who reported nonverbal communication with little information about their mother's trauma endorsed more interpersonal distress than HSO who experienced informative verbal communication and less affiliation than either HSO who experienced informative verbal communication or non-HSO. They also differed in their central relationship patterns with their parents and spouses. The findings are discussed in the context of the unique dynamics of growing up with the silent presence of the mother's trauma.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)371-381
Number of pages11
JournalInternational Journal of Behavioral Development
Volume26
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2002

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

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