Psychological complaints and characteristics in postwar children of Dutch World War II victims: Those seeking treatment as compared with their siblings

Background: The notion of a second-generation or 'children of survivors' syndrome was studied by obtaining information about the extent to which psychological complaints of postwar children seeking treatment could be compared to their non-treatment-seeking brothers and sisters of roughly the same age. Methods: 46 treatment-seeking subjects, postwar children of Dutch World War II victims, and 22 brothers and sisters, who had not applied for treatment, answered psychological questionnaires about symptoms, psychological traits, coping styles, life events and impact of events. Mean score differences are tested for significance with the t test (two-tailed). Results: Statistically significant higher mean scores for several treatment-seeking client groups were consistently obtained on nearly all symptom subscales of the SCL-90, the traits of neuroticism, anxiety, depression, pessimism, and inward expression of negative emotions, as well as the coping style of depressive reaction and PTSD-related characteristics of intrusion and denial of experiences. These differences also remained when the data for the two sexes were separately analyzed or, alternatively, a sibling and sex match were included in the between-groups comparison. Conclusions: Our findings tend to corroborate those of others, expressing doubts as to the ubiquity of enduring pernicious effects of parental traumatic wartime experiences on their offspring. Some members of the second generation seem to be adversely affected, others apparently are not. This conclusion may even be extended to members within the same families, which would seriously call into question the generality of intrafamilial transmission routes. These routes act selectively upon members of the same family.