Survivors of the Holocaust and their children: Current status and adjustment.

Abstract

A group of 52 concentration camp and other survivors of World War II were compared with a control group of 29 persons of similar European and religious background. Forty-seven children of these survivors and 16 children from the comparison group were also evaluated. The psychological adjustment of both group of adults and their children was within the normal range. Cultural rather than specific survivor influences were noted in the present attitudes and behaviors of the parents. There were no significant differences between the survivor and control group children on any of the psychological variables or in thier attitudes and behaviors toward their parents. Based on these findings, we questioned notions of survivor guilt, the manifestation of emotional blunting in the survivors, and the extremely maladaptive psychological influence of their parents' experiences on the children of survivors.