| Abstract [eng] |
Background: In comparison with large amount of studies of Nazi repression, psychological effects of Soviet repression are little investigated. There is a comprehensive study of the survivors in Lithuania, but we have very little data on the effects of Soviet trauma on the second generation. There were no investigations in the nonclinical sample of the children of survivors in Lithuania. So in this study we tried to answer the first questions about experience of the second generation. We had the aim to compare posttraumatic symptoms of first and second generations. Gender differences of the offsprings of survivors were considered, also psychological health of those, who have mother, father or both parents survivors, was compared. Methods: 62 children of survivors (23 men and 39 women) participated in this research, mean age of participants was 43,21 years (SD=7,82). Most of them were accessed through their parents (randomly selected from the list of survivors), who participated in research of psychological effects of Soviet and Nazi repression. The questionnaire which was sent to the members of second generation consisted of questions, related to their parents‘ experienced repression and its impact on children of survivors, the same methods, which were used by investigating survivors, were included: Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, Traumatic Symptom Checklist, Sense of Coherence Scale, besides, Beck Hopelessness Scale was used. Results: Most children of survivors think, that parents‘ traumatic experience had an impact on them or their lives, both negative and positive effects were mentioned. We found out that there are little differences between second and first generations on posttraumatic symptoms: children of survivors experienced more symptoms of interpersonal sensitiveness and aggressiveness and fewer symptoms of dissociation than survivors group. There is positive, but not strong correlation between some posttraumatic reactions of children of survivors and their survivor parent. Female participants of this study experience more posttraumatic symptoms. We observed the tendency that children who have both survivor parents are better adjusted and children, who has survivor mother, are worse adjusted. |
