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The Role of Parental Posttraumatic Stress, Marital Adjustment, and Dyadic Self‐Disclosure in Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma: A Family System Approach
Author(s) -
Bachem Rahel,
Levin Yafit,
Zhou Xiao,
Zerach Gadi,
Solomon Zahava
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/jmft.12266
Subject(s) - offspring , posttraumatic stress , psychology , mediation , clinical psychology , perspective (graphical) , marital relationship , developmental psychology , pregnancy , genetics , artificial intelligence , political science , computer science , law , biology
Research indicates that posttraumatic stress symptoms ( PTSS ) induced by war trauma may be transmitted to veterans’ wives and offspring (secondary traumatic stress; STS ). However, the interplay between family members’ characteristics has not been accounted for in such processes. Taking a family systems perspective, we examine the contributions of fathers’ PTSS , mothers’ STS , marital adjustment, and self‐disclosure of both parents to offspring's STS and test whether marital quality applies as a mechanism of parent–child transmission. Combat veterans and former prisoners of war (N = 123), their spouses, and adult offspring were investigated in a multiple‐step mediation analysis. The results highlight the mother's crucial role in trauma transmission and suggest that strengthening the marital relationship may buffer the transmission of fathers’ PTSS to offspring.