Intergenerational Transmission of Resilience? Sense of Coherence Is Associated between Lithuanian Survivors of Political Violence and Their Adult Offspring

Abstract

Little is known about intergeneration effects on mental health in the families of survivors of political oppression of communist regime in Central and Eastern Europe. We aimed to explore post-traumatic stress in the second generation of the Lithuanian survivors of political violence, and analyze links between parental and adult offsprings’ sense of coherence in the families exposed to political violence during the oppressive communist regime in Lithuania. A total of 110 matched pairs of communist regime political violence survivors (mean age = 73.22 years) and their adult offspring (mean age = 44.65 years) participated in this study. Life-time traumatic experiences and sense of coherence were measured in both parents and their offspring. Post-traumatic stress symptoms were assessed in the second generation of survivors. We found a high vulnerability in the second generation of the Lithuanian families of political violence survivors, with a 29% of probable PTSD in the second generation based on self-report measures. A significant positive correlation between parental and adult offsprings’ sense of coherence was found. Post-traumatic stress symptoms were associated negatively with a sense of coherence in the second generation. Our study indicates the links between parental and the second generation’s sense of coherence in the families of survivors of political violence. The study raises broader questions about the intergenerational aspects of resilience. Further studies are needed to explore the links between parental and child sense of coherence in other samples.

The structure of ICD-11 PTSD and complex PTSD in Lithuanian mental health services

“…Studies thus far suggest a population exposed to decades-long pervasive and systematic political oppression and violence during Soviet times (Kazlauskas & Zelviene, 2016). This includes experiences of forced displacement to remote regions of Northern Siberia, political imprisonment, abusive use of psychiatry, and other forms of repression (Kazlauskas, Gailiene, Vaskeliene, & Skeryte-Kazlauskiene, 2017). However, with a high prevalence of trauma in society, PTSD is not acknowledged in health care in Lithuania as it was evidenced by the recent analysis of the National health care registry in Lithuania .…”

Association Between Social Acknowledgment And Trauma Disclosure

“…A recent review reported 70-75% prevalence of traumatic events in the general population in Lithuania (21) similar to 68% prevalence of traumatic experiences in other European countries (22). However, several crosscultural studies revealed high prevalence of interpersonal violence in Lithuania including physical abuse in childhood (26.0%) (23) and domestic violence towards mother (16.5%) (24), and high levels of PTSD (30%) among second-generation survivors of political violence (25), indicating that Lithuanian population might have high rates of survivors of interpersonal trauma.…”

The Links Between Childhood Life Circumstances, Family Persecution and Discrimination Experiences, and Well-Being in Later Life

“…Tokius skirtumus bandoma aiškinti tuo, kad atkūrus nepriklausomybę tarsi buvo pašalinta istorinė neteisybė: represijas patyrę žmonės buvo pripažinti nukentėjusiais (Bieliauskaitė ir kt., 2015). Tarpgeneracinis traumos ir atsparumo perdavimas randamas ne viename tyrime (Kazlauskas et al, 2017;Serbin & Karp, 2004). Mažulytė-Rašytinė (2017) atkreipia dėmesį, kad represijų poveikis geriau paaiškinamas, kai atsižvelgiama į santykius su artimaisiais.…”