The Intergenerational Aftermath of War Captivity: The Israeli Experience

This chapter is devoted to an examination of the aftermath of war captivity as implicated in the next (second) generation. Capitalizing on findings from a nearly three-decade and four-wave longitudinal study, we present cumulative evidence regarding the psychological and interpersonal ramifications of war captivity for Israeli former prisoners of war (ex-POWs) and underscore the intergenerational effects of the fathers’/ex-POWs’ experiences on their adult offspring. Taking into consideration the relational context of the family system, the chapter addresses post-traumatic phenomena manifesting among the offspring as impacted by their fathers’ trauma and post-traumatic stress symptoms, their mothers’ secondary traumatic stress, and the complex interaction of familial subsystems, such as the marital and the parental relationships. Clinical and societal implications are drawn, and directions for future research in the field are discussed and encouraged.