Intergenerational effects of the Holocaust following the October 7 attack in Israel

Descendants of traumatized individuals may exhibit latent vulnerability, meaning they are typically well-functioning yet more vulnerable to stressful and traumatic events. Nevertheless, such vulnerability is not omnipresent, and some descendants are more prone than others to develop posttraumatic disorder (PTSD) and other psychopathologies. Ancestral PTSD was suggested as an aggravating factor for intergenerational effects. The current study examined whether Holocaust descendants (i.e., children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors) show unique posttraumatic reactions to the October 7 terrorist attack and the ensuing war and whether parental/grandparental PTSD exacerbated these reactions. A web-based random sample of 582 Israeli Jews completed questionnaires a year before the October 7 terrorist attack (Wave 1, 2022) and two months after the attack and into the war (Wave 3, December 2023). Results showed that pre-war probable PTSD rates were similar across the study groups (10.4% and 11.5% among Holocaust descendants and descendants of those not directly exposed to the Holocaust, respectively). In contrast, probable PTSD rates during the war mainly increased among Holocaust descendants (20.9% and 11.5% among Holocaust and comparison descendants, respectively). Higher probable PTSD rates were especially noticeable in Wave 3 among Holocaust descendants who reported that their parents/grandparents had probable PTSD even after controlling Wave 1 probable PTSD, background characteristics, and levels of traumatic exposure. The findings have important implications for understanding the intergenerational effects of trauma as they strongly support the latent vulnerability hypothesis three generations after ancestral trauma, and further suggest that ancestral PTSD plays a major role in aggravating such vulnerability.