Is this pain yours? A literature review on transmission of historical intergenerational trauma and resilience

This literature review addresses how historical trauma is transmitted intergenerationally, focusing on attachment styles and parenting approaches, family communication, as well as resilience in the communities affected by Soviet and Nazi committed genocides. Millions of people have been harmed by these regimes directly, and their impact may extend to the second and the third generations. Having conducted a literature search, 23 studies were selected for the review. Integrative methods were used to analyse the studies, while thematic analysis was used to find patterns across the studies. Family communication emerged as one of the most common trauma transmission pathways: open communication was associated with transmission of resilience, while absent communication was associated with transmission of traumatic symptoms. Also, trauma tended to be transmitted through insecure attachment styles, and overprotective or avoidant parenting approaches. The results were comparable across samples, though communities affected by Soviet genocides reported more mistrust and helplessness, which could be explained by the historical context of the Soviet crimes. Finally, the findings on intergenerationally transmitted resilience imply that the survivors of these regimes and their offspring have unique strengths that go beyond the trauma-induced vulnerabilities, therefore, future research on intergenerational resilience could benefit the field.