This collective aspect of IT is typically called historical trauma (HT). The intergenerational transmission of trauma occurs when the effects of ongoing traumatic events and situations are passed on from one generation to another (Reese et al., 2022 Chou & Buchanan, 2021 Danieli, 1998 ). In addition to individual processes, there are collective and systemic processes of intergenerational risk associated with massive traumas like genocide, as well as political, social, and cultural traumas experienced by distinct groups, such as exploitation, oppression, and processes of colonization( e.g., displacement, cultural genocide, forced assimilation practices Braveheart & DeBruyn 1998 Danieli, 1998 Degruy-Leary, 2017 Duran & Duran, 1995). Furthermore, mother’s experience of physical neglect was associated with increased emotion dysregulation and diminished attachment quality in offspring, and these effects were greater when other forms of maltreatment were also present in the mother’s childhood. (2022) found that maltreatment, especially physical neglect, in a mother’s childhood was associated with an increased risk of maltreatment in the following generations.
A smaller body of work has emerged examining how trauma in one generation might impact subsequent generations, called intergenerational trauma (IT Braveheart et al., 2011 Bombay et al., 2009 Sangalang, & Vang, 2017).
Moreover, studies have identified mechanisms through which this relationship is mediated, such as dysfunctional attributions ( Hu et al., 2015), cognitive distortions (Smith et al., 2018), immature defenses mechanisms ( DiGuiseppe et al., 2021) and maladaptive coping ( Rettie & Daniels, 2021). In other words, although our findings should be treated with caution due to their correlational nature, they may indicate the potential long-term impact of intergenerational trauma transmission. The analysis showed that 17.2 of Indigenous children living in Stolen Generations households reported having missed school without permission in the previous year, compared with 4.1 of the. The relationship between negative/traumatic events and psychological distress is well established for posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and suicidality (Harkness & Hayden, 2020). The current review seeks to provide a brief introduction to this area of research.
An increasing body of evidence indicates important mental health consequences on subsequent generations, at the individual, as well as the collective and systemic levels. Intergenerational transmission childhood adversity developmental programming epigenetic mechanisms fetoplacental interaction offspring of trauma survivors post-traumatic stress disorder trauma.AN IMPORTANT FOCUS OF THE STUDY OF TRAUMA IS ITS INTERGENERATIONAL IMPACT. Elucidating the role of epigenetic mechanisms in intergenerational effects through prospective, multi-generational studies may ultimately yield a cogent understanding of how individual, cultural and societal experiences permeate our biology. Given the paucity of human studies and the methodological challenges in conducting such studies, it is not possible to attribute intergenerational effects in humans to a single set of biological or other determinants at this time. Intergenerational trauma can stem from biology, learned behaviors and even the collective experiences of a group. The most compelling work to date has been done in animal models, where the opportunity for controlled designs enables clear interpretations of transmissible effects. Through this work, concepts like intergenerational trauma and HT were developed. Several factors, such as sex-specific epigenetic effects following trauma exposure and parental developmental stage at the time of exposure, explain different effects of maternal and paternal trauma. Guided by the initial purpose of the Holocaust studies, Brave Heart and DeBruyn (1998) applied this construct to understand the effects of collective trauma on the health and well-being of an Indigenous traumatized community (Evans-Campbell, 2008). The second includes epigenetic changes associated with a preconception trauma in parents that may affect the germline, and impact fetoplacental interactions. These can result from the influence of the offspring's early environmental exposures, including postnatal maternal care as well as in utero exposure reflecting maternal stress during pregnancy. The first involves developmentally programmed effects. Two broad categories of epigenetically mediated effects are highlighted. This paper reviews the research evidence concerning the intergenerational transmission of trauma effects and the possible role of epigenetic mechanisms in this transmission. The effects of intergenerational trauma are palpable and serious.