Childhood maltreatment (CM) increases the lifelong vulnerability to negative mental and physical health outcomes, in particular when people encounter subsequent stressors – known as “second hits” – later in life. Alterations in the biological stress response system are discussed as an underlying mechanism, translating CM into negative health sequelae of stress. One highly relevant question in this context is whether this increased risk of behavioral, mental or physical health problems is transmitted to following generations.

Childhood adversity has been linked to adverse consequences on health, behavior, and interpersonal relationships among affected adults. Parental history of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) not only impacts their children's health and well-being but heightens the risk of perpetuating intergenerational patterns of trauma transmission (Schickedanz et al., 2021). However, an absence of studies examining the connection among parental history of ACEs, PTSD, and racial trauma, prompted the need for this study.

This article explores the challenges, needs and capacities of girls born of conflict-related sexual violence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi. Twenty-nine interviews and 11 focus groups were conducted with girls born of genocidal rape, alongside 44 interviews with mothers of children born of genocidal rape.

In this article we evaluate micro-history as a method for investigating the meaning of stigma, shame and family secrets through generations. We present micro-histories of two Australian soldiers who developed mental illness years after serving in World War 1 and were committed to a psychiatric hospital where they died. Data were drawn from publicly available records and interviews with family members.

Nearly three decades have passed since the conclusion of the last war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite the absence of direct experiences or memories of atrocity crimes and mass victimization, post-war generations bear the long-term consequences of war through the influence of their parents. Collective traumas, both from the distant and recent past, have become integral to group identities and memories, shaping everyday life, narratives, emotions, and mental representations among these generations.

A growing body of evidence for the ‘family migration capital’ hypothesis – whereby migration experience in a family leads to a greater propensity to move among migrants’ descendants – has so far relied on accounts of any migration experience, including voluntary moves.

Exposure to war is known to impact children’s physical and mental health. Recent research reveals that war exposure might even affect the developmental outcomes of children who are yet to be conceived. In this study, we sought to extend such prior work by investigating longitudinal associations between pre-conception war exposure and the accompanying maternal emotional distress on child sleep. Israeli mothers, who conceived within a year after the Lebanon war in 2006 (N = 68), were followed until their children reached 10 years of age.

Background: Traumatic stress among forcibly displaced people has a variety of adverse consequences beyond individual mental health, including implications for poor socioemotional developmental outcomes for their children post-displacement. 

Objective: This study explored the intergenerational transmission of maternal ICD-11 Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and depression among asylum-seeking mothers for their children's internalizing and externalizing difficulties. 

If the possibility of adequate psychological healing of historical traumas is not given, individuals affected can pass down its effects from one generation to another resulting in transgenerational trauma. While numerous studies focus on transgenerational trauma in Holocaust and indigenous survivors, few have explored the survivors of the 1938 Dersim Massacre. This study builds on preliminary research to better understand transgenerational trauma processes, aiming to prevent trauma transmission to future generations.