Intergenerational transmission of war-related trauma assessed 40 years after exposure

Abstract

Background

The intergenerational transmission of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from parent to offspring has been suggested in the literature, but this is highly controversial. We aimed to study the association between veterans’ war exposure and lifetime PTSD and the psychological characteristics of their respective offspring, 40 years after war-related trauma.

Methods

Forty-four adult offspring of veterans with PTSD and 29 offspring of veterans without PTSD were included in the study, from a total of 46 veterans. War exposure intensity, lifetime PTSD, and the general psychopathology (with Brief Symptom Inventory—BSI) of the veterans were studied, as were childhood trauma, attachment, and the general psychopathology (with BSI) of their offspring.

Results

Veterans’ war exposure was associated with BSI in the offspring with regard to somatisation ( β = 0.025; CI 0.001, 0.050), phobic anxiety ( β = 0.014; CI: 0.000, 0.027), Global Severity Index (GSI) ( β = 0.022; CI 0.005, 0.038), and Positive Symptom Distress Index ( β = 0.020; CI 0.006, 0.033). The fathers’ GSI mediated only 18% of the effect of the veterans’ total war exposure on offspring’s GSI. Fathers’ war exposure was associated with offspring’s physical neglect as a childhood adversity, although non-significantly ( p = 0.063). None of the other variables was associated with veterans’ war exposure, and veterans’ lifetime PTSD was not associated with any of the variables studied.

Conclusions

The offspring of war veterans showed increased psychological suffering as a function of their fathers’ war exposure intensity, but not of their fathers’ lifetime PTSD. These results could be used to suggest that mental health support for veterans’ offspring should consider the war exposure intensity of their fathers, and not just psychopathology. This could spare offspring’s suffering if this mental health support could be delivered early on, after veterans return from war.