Mediator Role of Psychological Resilience in Transmission of Psychological Trauma, Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

The violent conflicts that began in Nicosia on December 21, 1963, continued for 11 years. Following the war, Turkish Cypriots were forced to migrate to the north, while Greek Cypriots had to move to the south. It is evident that the process experienced by the Turkish Cypriots was traumatic. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between transgenerational psychological trauma, anxiety, and OCD among second- and third-generation Turkish Cypriots, taking into account that 50 years have passed since the survivors’ painful experiences and that the survivors are now the parents of today’s young adults. This study employed a relational survey model and Hayes’ Model 4 for the mediation analysis and was conducted with a total of 305 participants, comprising 195 women and 110 men. Data were collected using the Transgenerational Psychological Trauma Scale, Beck Anxiety Inventory, DSM-5 Repetitive Thoughts and Behaviors Scale, and Brief Resilience Scale, in addition to demographic information obtained through a Demographic Information Form prepared by the researchers. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 27 through Multiple Regression Analyses. The results indicated that psychological resilience and transgenerational trauma significantly predicted anxiety and OCD levels. Moreover, the findings showed that psychological resilience was negatively associated with anxiety, whereas transgenerational psychological trauma was positively associated with both anxiety and OCD. Multiple regression analyses and Sobel tests conducted in the study confirmed that psychological resilience partially mediated the relationship between family functionality and anxiety.