The Intersection of Traumatic Events Across Generations: PTSD Symptoms Among War Veterans With Holocaust Survivor Parents Before and Following the October 7 Terror Attack

Previous traumatic exposure, as well as ancestral trauma, may render individuals more sensitive to subsequent trauma. The current study examined the intersection between traumatic events across generations by assessing change in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms before and after the October 7 terror attack among Israeli war veterans while accounting for parental Holocaust exposure. A web-based random sample of 331 Yom Kippur War male veterans of European origin (M_age = 72.54, SD = 2.86) completed questionnaires in three waves before and after the October 7 attack. Multilevel models showed that PTSD symptoms increased over time. Moreover, having a Holocaust survivor father interacted with time, suggesting that veterans who had a Holocaust survivor father showed a steeper increase in PTSD symptoms across time relative to those without a Holocaust survivor father. Having a Holocaust survivor mother or two survivor parents did not interact with time. The findings have significant implications for the interplay between current, subsequent, and intergenerational effects of traumatic exposure, highlighting a “fragile resilience.” This fragile resilience reflected relative resilience under non-stressful conditions but increased symptom triggering in stressful times among war veterans whose fathers experienced massive trauma. Practitioners should be aware of these factors while helping individuals exposed to war and terror.