The transgenerational impact of trauma is an emergent focus in the field of trauma research. A growing body of evidence suggests important consequences for the descendants of trauma survivors, at the individual, as well as the collective, and systemic levels. After a brief introduction to the main concepts and a summary of the key findings by population, the current article proposes a novel comprehensive model: the historical intergenerational trauma transmission model (HITT model).

A central goal in the field of developmental psychopathology is to evaluate the complex, dynamic transactions occurring among biological, psychological, and broader social-cultural contexts that predict adaptive and maladaptive outcomes across ontogeny. Here, I briefly review research on the effects of a history of childhood maltreatment on parental, child, and dyadic functioning, along with more recent studies on the intergenerational transmission of trauma.

Background

Robust evidence suggests that individuals exposed to childhood trauma are more vulnerable to suffering from later depression. However, the pathway connecting the experience of childhood trauma and depression remains unclear.

Participants and settings

Background: High levels of post-traumatic stress are well documented among refugees. Yet, refugee adolescents display high heterogeneity in their type of trauma and symptom levels.

Objective: Following the recurrent plea for validated trauma screening tools, this study investigated the psychometric properties of the Children’s Revised Impact of Event Scale (CRIES-8) among refugee adolescents from Afghanistan (n = 148), Syria (n = 234), and Somalia (n = 175) living in Europe.