Intergenerational transmission of parental nakba related trauma experiences among the palestinans living in Israel

Abstract

This review summarizes studies on the intergenerational influence of the Palestinian disaster in 1948 (i.e., NAKBA). For the purposes of this review, it was investigated whether second-generation individuals were affected by war-related trauma to which first-generation individuals were exposed. In this study we examined the intra-family trauma communication style (i.e., disclosure/silencing) as a mediator variable. A path model was constructed to demonstrate how the influence of traumatic experiences was transmitted to the second generation. Finally we investigated the factors that might affect the willingness of Palestinians to reconcile with Jews and the state of Israel. This thesis includes a review and three articles, which consider the topic from different perspectives. In the first chapter, a literature review of the existing publications on the topic of the transgenerational impact of trauma and displacement is presented and the outstanding research questions are discussed. The subsequent three chapters refer to the results of the current study and finally a chapter summarizes the results in German.