Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal · Child protection
Inherited Vulnerabilities and Innate Remedies: Reframing “Cycles of Child Maltreatment” Through Attention to the Wider Literature on Intergenerational Aspects of Trauma and Healing
Why do children who went through child protection so often meet the same services again once they become parents? Rather than relying on attachment and social learning theories alone, an Australian social work team rereads this “cycle” in the light of sixty years of research on intergenerational trauma: descendants of genocide and war survivors, displaced families, colonised peoples, animal studies and epigenetics. Two notions emerge: inherited vulnerabilities, activated under stress, and innate remedies, which communities know how to mobilise.
This is a reformatted republication of Inherited Vulnerabilities and Innate Remedies: Reframing “Cycles of Child Maltreatment” Through Attention to the Wider Literature on Intergenerational Aspects of Trauma and Healing, by Crysta Bowe, Cate Thomas and Patricia Mackey, published in Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal (Springer) (2026), doi: 10.1007/s10560-025-01027-9, under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Prepared by Complexe Systémique in September 2026: the authors’ text is unchanged; the layout has been adapted for reading online, which constitutes a modification of the work under the terms of the licence. End-of-article statements are grouped in the notes. This edition was made neither by the authors nor by the publisher, who are not responsible for its content or for any errors. The original version prevails.
When the source of harm is also the source of nurturing, it creates an unresolvable dilemma for the child.
Crysta Bowe, Cate Thomas and Patricia Mackey
Abstract
The repetition of child abuse and neglect over generations has been extensively observed and researched, however the problem remains poorly understood and narrowly conceptualised. This discussion, which is loosely centred on the Australian child protection context, examines the wider research on intergenerational trauma and resilience in other cohorts of survivors and goes on to consider the potential implications of this knowledge for child protection policy and practice. It reveals that an ancestor’s experiences of harm and adversity may result in non-deterministic vulnerabilities toward trauma-related symptomology in descendants which is often activated in times of stress or perceived threat, including parenthood and statutory child protection interventions. The indivisibility of intergenerational trauma and recovery is also evident in the literature, signposting resilience and recovery strategies that may be utilised and further developed to support families when there has been harm to children over generations. Overall, the broader knowledge on intergenerational trauma has the scope to shape more holistic, empathetic, pre-emptive, and strength-focused approaches within contemporary child protection contexts.
Keywords: Intergenerational trauma, Child abuse and neglect, Child maltreatment, Cycle of abuse, Child welfare, Child protection
The prevalence of child abuse and neglect in Australia is gradually increasing (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, 2022; Curtis et al., 2016), with 62% of surveyed Australians reporting some form of maltreatment in childhood (Mathews et al., 2023) and reports of child abuse and neglect in Australia having increased by 40%, substantiated incidents of harm to children by 7.2%, and entries into out-of-home care by 7.3% from 2016–2017 to 2020–2021 (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, 2022). An intergenerational lens helps to explain these increasing rates. The existing literature shows that, while intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment is far from inevitable (Augustyn et al., 2019; Bartlett, 2012; Mitkovic Voncina et al., 2017), a history of childhood maltreatment is a risk factor for statutory child protection intervention in one’s own subsequent parenting (Assink et al., 2018; Barker et al., 2019; Krutzinna, 2021; Madigan et al., 2019; Putnam-Hornstein et al., 2015). One study reports that 6.7% of children of parents who were physically and/or sexually abused as children were notified to child protection systems within 13 months of birth compared to 0.4% of children whose parents did not have an early abuse history (Dixon et al., 2005), while another finds that a mother’s history of reported or substantiated harm increases the likelihood that their own child would be reported for maltreatment by 72%, (Bartlett et al., 2017). A recent review of child protection data in South Australia over a 30-year period found that 22.1% of children of parents with a history of childhood maltreatment were reported, investigated and substantiated as having been subject to abuse and/or neglect and 10.7% spent time in out-of-home care, compared to 2.0% (substantiated reports) and 0.5% (entry into care) for children of parents who did not experience childhood maltreatment (Armfield et al., 2021).
The existing and rapidly expanding body of evidence on the transmission of trauma over generations, a disparate but highly applicable concept in which symptoms of trauma manifest in descendants of survivors, is, with few exceptions (Menzies, 2019a; Walker, 1999), notably absent in the literature on intergenerational child maltreatment (Frazier et al., 2009; Leeman, 2018) and, as such, may be a largely untapped resource in addressing the challenge of intergenerational child abuse and neglect. This phenomenon refers to the presence of emotional, psychological, and somatic symptoms associated with trauma in descendants of survivors, who did not directly experience the traumatic event themselves (Dass-Brailsford, 2007; Lev–Wiesel, 2007; van Ijzendoorn et al., 2003). Intergenerational trauma has been identified and examined in a number of cohorts over several decades, commencing with clinical case studies of children of Holocaust survivors in the 1960s (Kellerman, 2001; Rakoff et al., 1966) and re-gaining momentum in contemporary times with the contribution of scientific evidence on epigenetic alterations in the DNA expression of survivors’ descendants (Roberts et al., 2018; Yehuda et al., 2014; Youssef et al., 2018).
The lens of social work and its focus on “person in environment” (Green & McDermott, 2010) applies a contextual understanding to individuals and families, considering the individual, systemic, and social influences and the interchanges between these and integrating multiple sources of knowledge into practice (Connolly & Harms, 2013). This can only be enhanced by a deep appreciation of historic and intergenerational contexts and knowledges that may be applicable for social work with families who have intergenerational involvement in child protection contexts.
This review of the literature identifies themes in the wider knowledge concerning intergenerational adaptions to trauma, explores their potential to inform and improve policy and practice in child protection contexts, and offers the opportunity to reconceptualise the phenomenon of maltreated children who go on to become maltreating parents through the integration of the broader knowledge on intergenerational trauma. It begins by briefly discussing the scope and limitations of the terminology before moving into a summary of the research on intergenerational child maltreatment. The paper then provides a summary of the themes and findings in the wider literature on intergenerational trauma, encompassing how different cohorts of survivors’ descendants have experienced and responded to their ancestors’ trauma and the biological and epigenetic research on the topic. The subsequent discussion on the twin terms proposed in the title of this discussion, “inherited vulnerabilities” and “innate remedies”, accentuates these themes and explores their relevance to working in child protection contexts. The discussion suggests that intergenerational experiences of harm and adversity does not automatically result in the development of adverse trauma response symptomology for descendants; however, an ancestor’s trauma may engender a susceptibility to such challenges. It also emphasises that survivors and their descendants are inherently predisposed towards healing, recovery, and post-traumatic meaning-making, and reveals a number of recovery and resilience initiatives exercised by these groups. Through transformed perceptions cultivated by the knowledge on intergenerational trauma, implications for child protection policy, practice and research become apparent.
Terminology
The current terminology for the topics under discussion is both extensive and limiting. The research into child protection makes reference to intergenerational cycles or continuity of “abuse” (Egeland et al., 1988; Huefner et al., 2007; Jaffee et al., 2013), “violence” (Hellmann et al., 2018; Widom & Wilson, 2014), “maltreatment” (Dixon et al., 2005; Hirst & Jones, 2016; Thornberry et al., 2012; Tomison, 1996) and “parenting” (Belsky et al., 2009), terms narrowly focused on parenting behaviours resulting in the causation of harm. The wider literature on trauma uses a multitude of terms which place the emphasis on the experience of having been harmed, a more empathetic approach but similarly deficit focused. Most common is “intergenerational trauma” (Dekel & Goldblatt, 2008; Fenton, 2018; Lev–Wiesel, 2007) and “transgenerational trauma” (Bako & Zana, 2020; Feldman, 2015; Fossion et al., 2015; Welford, 2019), with some authors differentiating between the two through specifying biological epigenetic inheritance (intergenerational) and transmission via other factors (transgenerational) (Blake & Watson, 2016; Dias & Ressler, 2014a; Mbiydzenyuy et al., 2022). Research also applies terms such as “inherited family trauma” (Wolynn, 2017), “generational trauma” (Doucet & Rovers, 2010), “cross-generational trauma” (Jacobs, 2011; Nagata, 2013), and “ancestor syndrome” (Esgalhado, 2003; Schützenberger, 2014), among others. The related terms “collective trauma” (Karenian et al., 2011; Menzies, 2019b), “cultural trauma” (Alexander et al., 2004; Halloran, 2004; Mangassarian, 2016), and “historical trauma” (Brave Heart et al., 2016; Sotero, 2006) refer to traumas experienced by a group, community or society, which is then integrated into the collective understanding and shared intergenerational identity.
Several authors have recognised the limitations and deficit-focus of this existing terminology and applied terms such as “post-traumatic growth” (Dekel et al., 2013), “intergenerational resilience” (Denov et al., 2019; Schofield et al., 2014) and “post-traumatic meaning” (Moskowitz, 2015), alongside the “trauma” discourse to emphasise the potential for both healing and personal progress beyond the trauma experience. These concepts are not without critique, with authors noting methodological reliance on retrospective self-report (Tedeschi et al., 2014; Zachry et al., 2022) and suggesting that a structural and systemic lens may position resilience and post-traumatic growth as more accessible and achievable for the privileged; those whose world-views align with the dominant, those whose trauma experience is sufficient to challenge their beliefs and assumptions but not overwhelming, and those who are better able to access supports and resources (Lee, 2017; McLean et al., 2024). Certainly, this latter point is a key element of this paper, which concurrently explores individual vulnerabilities and environmental conditions which promote or hinder healing.
The indivisibility of trauma and recovery has also been noted, with authors emphasising the meaning-making process that transforms the experience in diverse ways and results in the development of unique values, relational patterning styles, and identities (Kidron et al., 2019; Lehrner & Yehuda, 2018). Hence, the internal and external experiences, the interactions and behaviours, and the worldviews and self-views held are a fusion of ancestor experience and individual synthesis. This discussion seeks to lexically and conceptually honour this concept, using terminology such as intergenerational “aspects”, “elements”, “adaptions”, and “responses” of trauma and maltreatment to simultaneously attend to the beneficial and adjustive outcomes of intergenerational trauma survival alongside its more detrimental consequences.
Intergenerational Childhood Maltreatment
The concept that people who experienced abuse or neglect in childhood are more likely to go on to cause harm to their own children remains one of the more enduring (Fontana, 1973; Steele, 1976) yet contentious (Belsky, 1993; Jiang et al., 2025; Newcomb & Locke, 2001) theories in the field of child protection research and practice. Certainly, it is important to emphasise that the vast majority of children involved in child protection systems go on to parent safely and successfully (Augustyn et al., 2019; Bartlett, 2012; Dixon et al., 2009; Mitkovic Voncina et al., 2017). There are also significant disparities in research findings (Bartlett et al., 2017; Langevin et al., 2021; Thornberry et al., 2012), with one review of the literature finding that reported intergenerational continuity rates varied from 7 to 88% (Langevin et al., 2021). This may be partially due to heterogeneity in research criteria and methodology, with some studies focusing on child protection data (the definitions of which vary jurisdiction to jurisdiction), others relying on retrospective self-report (based on differing study specific descriptors or the individual perceptions of research participants and therefore subject to recall bias [Widom et al., 2004]), and still others utilising various standardised questionaries and measurements (such as Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Childhood History Questionnaire) (Bartlett et al., 2017; Bywaters et al., 2020; Leve et al., 2015; Romero-Martínez et al., 2014). Nevertheless, the vast body of evidence finding that experiences of maltreatment in childhood is correlated with parental behaviours resulting in harm to the next generation and involvement of statutory child protection systems (Armfield et al., 2021; Assink et al., 2018; Barker et al., 2019; Berlin et al., 2011; Dixon et al., 2005; Madigan et al., 2019; Marshall et al., 2011; Pears & Capaldi, 2001; Putnam-Hornstein et al., 2015; Russotti et al., 2021), suggests that the concept of intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment is legitimate and pertinent.
Much of the literature has focused on factors that may moderate or mitigate intergenerational recurrence of childhood maltreatment, with parents who experienced childhood harm often referred to as “cycle maintainers” or “cycle breakers” based on these features (Burke et al., 2021; Islam et al., 2023; McKenzie et al., 2021; Woods-Jaeger et al., 2018). Several authors have explored whether type and timing of parents’ childhood maltreatment affected the prevalence and form of harm to offspring. The vast inconsistencies in focuses and findings, however, make it difficult to reliably locate themes or trends using these measures. For instance, some studies report that a child of a parent who had experienced childhood sexual abuse was more likely to be subject to harm than one who experienced other forms of abuse (Hall et al., 1998; Robboy & Anderson, 2011; Widom et al., 2015), while others suggested the risk was highest when the parents’ harm experience was physical abuse (Berlin et al., 2011; Bifulco et al., 2002; Oliveira et al., 2012; Pears & Capaldi, 2001; St-Laurent et al., 2019). Some studies found a type-to-type intergenerational transmission of maltreatment (Kim, 2009), such as parents who witnessed domestic and family violence in their childhood being more likely to display physically abusive behaviours (Al Dosari et al., 2017; Fulu et al., 2017; Jackson et al., 1999) while others detected a multi-type or dissimilar maltreatment type in the second generation to that experienced by the parent, including mothers who were subjected to physical abuse in their childhood displaying both abusive and neglectful behaviours while a childhood history of neglect predicted only neglectful parenting behaviours (Yang et al., 2018). The diversity of results is also apparent in the research into timing of a parent’s maltreatment history, with findings suggesting, for instance, that the risk of developing harmful parenting behaviours was only significant when the parent’s maltreatment occurred during adolescence (Thornberry & Henry, 2013), and that physical abuse before the age of 13 was the best predictor for fathers while physical abuse after the age of 13 was the best predictor for mothers (Romero-Martínez et al., 2014).
The research demonstrates more uniformity in identifying parental and family characteristics which mediate or moderate the risk of intergenerational continuity of maltreatment. Young parents, particularly those in adolescence, with a history of childhood abuse or neglect were found to be more likely to have children who experienced harm (Bartlett, 2012; McKenzie et al., 2021; NSW Department of Communities & Justice, 2019; Putnam-Hornstein et al., 2015; Shusterman et al., 2021), as were families with many children (Hellmann et al., 2018), and parents with less education (Fusco, 2015). Experiences of financial or community stress were also found to increase the risks of intergenerational child maltreatment (Bennett et al., 2020; Dixon et al., 2009; Langevin et al., 2021; Ports et al., 2021), accentuating the contribution of life stressors and adversities.
Parental mental health diagnosis and trauma symptomology, such as dissociation, experiential avoidance, and emotional dysregulation is considered a risk factor for intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment (Islam et al., 2023; Marshall et al., 2011; McDonnell & Valentino, 2016; Pears & Capaldi, 2001; Russotti et al., 2021; Warmingham et al., 2020). The literature generally agrees that parents who have integrated and processed their trauma history and developed effective coping mechanisms are more likely to parent children who do not experience abuse or neglect (Amos et al., 2011; Borelli et al., 2019; Hall, 2011; Langeland & Dijkstra, 1995; Narang & Contreras, 2005).
Parents’ relational and ecological social support systems were also identified as relevant in the intergenerational recurrence or discontinuity of child maltreatment. Studies found that social isolation in adulthood was a common response to childhood abuse or neglect as well as a risk factor for causation of harm to children, while having a network of social and familial support was a buffer against this risk (Bartlett & Easterbrooks, 2015; Dixon et al., 2009; Jaffee et al., 2013; Merrick & Guinn, 2018; Thornberry et al., 2013; Tracy et al., 2018). The research found that for many parents who had been in out-of-home care, parenthood provided an opportunity and impetus to reconnect with birth family and heal in the process (Chamberlain et al., 2019; Mauri, 2023), with one study finding that living in a three generation household buffered the risk of intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment (Kong et al., 2021). Other research positioned a safe and stable partner relationship (Conger et al., 2013), and a strong social support network (Thornberry et al., 2013; Tracy et al., 2018) as safeguards.
A significant body of research indicates that adults who were harmed in childhood are at increased risk of re-victimisation, often in domestically violent relationships (Classen et al., 2005; Dass-Brailsford, 2007; Huefner et al., 2007; Hulette et al., 2011; Renner & Slack, 2006; Richards et al., 2017; Webermann & Murphy, 2018). A violent adult living in the home has been found to be a risk factor for intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment (Butler et al., 2020; Fusco, 2015) leading to the suggestion that it is parent survivors’ vulnerability to further harm at the hands of others (often violent partners) which simultaneously places their children at risk of harm (Dixon et al., 2005; Greene et al., 2020), in addition to the traditional view of maltreated children growing up to become maltreating parents.
Children who have spent time in out-of-home care are particularly vulnerable to child protection intervention in their own subsequent parenting (Armfield et al., 2021; Fusco, 2015; Mauri, 2023; Wall-Wieler et al., 2018). This has led researchers and activists to expose the social isolation and feelings of disempowerment that are often associated with the care experience (Dempster-Rivett et al., 2022) and propose that the state accept a greater and more enduring level of responsibility for supporting adults who have spent time in out-of-home care, particularly in their subsequent parenting of their own children (Heberle et al., 2020; Hirst & Jones, 2016; Krutzinna, 2021; Schelbe & Geiger, 2017). Indigenous and Black children are also over-represented in child protection systems (Cénat et al., 2023; Duthie et al., 2019). In 2020–2021, for instance, 17.2% of Australian Indigenous children received statutory child protection services (compared to 2.1% of non-Indigenous children), 4.3% received substantiated reports of abuse or neglect (compared to 0.9% nationally), and 1.3% entered statutory out-of-home care (compared to 0.2% Australia-wide) (Australian Institute of Health & Welfare, 2022). This over-representation has led to criticism of child protection systems for perpetuation of a Westernised individualist value system that that does not facilitate necessary collaboration, recognition of historic trauma, and space for cultural parenting practices that is necessary for a decolonising and antiracist approach (Bessarab & Crawford, 2013; Cénat et al., 2023; Funston & Herring, 2016; Menzies, 2019b; Nietz, 2018).
The literature on the topic of intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment has been subject to critique for methodological shortcomings (Greene et al., 2020; Haselschwerdt et al., 2019; Madigan et al., 2019; McKenzie et al., 2021; Newcomb & Locke, 2001; Thornberry et al., 2012; Widom & Wilson, 2014), ignoration of extraneous variables such as structural oppression and inequity (Bennett et al., 2020; Geiger et al., 2015), and tenuous assumptions based on research outcomes (Bartlett et al., 2017). Causation theories are another area of contention, with a vast number of studies referring to Bowlby’s (1979) attachment theory and Bandura’s (1977) social learning theory as the more prolific theoretical constructs (Assink et al., 2018; Badenes-Ribera et al., 2020; Chamberlain et al., 2019; Finzi-Dottan & Harel, 2014; Iyengar et al., 2019; Marshall et al., 2022; Mitkovic Voncina et al., 2017; Özcan et al., 2016; Steketee et al., 2021). This suggests that the problem may be professionally and pedagogically conceptualised primarily through the concept that childhood experiences form an internal framework around relational patterning and behaviour which is repeated throughout life, without due attention to other theories of transmission. The literature has also been critiqued for an over attention to transmission through the maternal line, with limited attention to fathers (Greene et al., 2020; Negriff et al., 2020), and is predominantly restricted to only two generations when exploring intergenerational patterns of harm. An examination of the wider literature on intergenerational responses provides an opportunity to consider the implications of these limitations in this body of research, and to augment the existing knowledge with the alternative perspectives offered in the wider literature on intergenerational responses to trauma.
Genocide
Research into intergenerational responses to trauma contains intriguing thematic findings of relevance to intergenerational child maltreatment. This seminal research is generally considered to have commenced in the 1960s with Holocaust survivors and their families (Barocas & Barocas, 1979; Danieli, 1998; Dass-Brailsford, 2007; Kellerman, 2001; Starman, 2006). Clinical observations of mental disturbance in adolescent children of Holocaust survivors (Rakoff et al., 1966; Sigal et al., 1973; Trossman, 1968) and self-report of sleep disturbances and dreams of persecution akin to what was experienced in life for the parent of the subject (Kellermann, 2013) led to empirical studies attempting to correlate clinical diagnoses of mental health issues with the status of being a child of a Holocaust survivor (Adelman, 1993).
These studies attracted some critique, with several authors noting the research involved a biased selection of research participants, the absence of control groups and a reliance on anecdotal data (Kellerman, 2001; Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2008; Solkoff, 1992; van Ijzendoorn et al., 2003). Additionally, they often failed to confirm the hypothesis that offspring of Holocaust survivors experienced increased rates of psychopathology compared to control groups or the general population (Kellerman, 2001; Leon et al., 1981; Levav et al., 2007; Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003; Solkoff, 1992). Over time the research discovered that, while children of Holocaust survivors generally fell within the normal range of psychological functioning, they presented with a psychological profile comprising factors such as susceptibility to distress, hypervigilance, separation and individuation issues, impaired self-esteem, and interpersonal difficulties which could be exacerbated or triggered (sometimes towards thresholds meeting clinical diagnosis of mental illness) in response to life stress (Baider et al., 2006; Giladi & Bell, 2013; Kellerman, 2001; Solomon et al., 1988; van Ijzendoorn et al., 2003). The research notes certain subgroups of Holocaust survivors’ offspring to be more vulnerable, including those born soon after the trauma, first born children, those with both parents as Holocaust survivors, and those exposed to either extensive or restricted Holocaust narratives within the family discourse (Kellerman, 2001). This latter point was exacerbated by a “conspiracy of silence” (Danieli, 1984, p. 23; Danieli 1988, p. 220) as society, including helping professionals, found the horrors of the Holocaust too confronting and painful to experience vicariously. This reinforced the shame-related instincts of survivors to conceal traumatic memories, as well as positioned the family home as the primary location in which the experiences could be openly discussed. Additionally, studies exploring the intergenerational effects of different Holocaust experiences, or “dose–effect relation” (Burchert et al., 2017), note that second generation Holocaust survivors reported increased mental health challenges if they had mothers aged 18 or younger and who were alone during the genocide (Aviad-Wilchek et al., 2013), indicating increased sensitivity to trauma early in life and the buffering role of social connection.
Later research on transgenerational trauma adaptions, which continues into contemporary times, corrected the identified methodological flaws described above (Felton, 1998), attended to the nuances of trauma symptomology rather than limiting their work to diagnostic criteria (Cohn & Morrison, 2018; Felton, 1998), and explored the third generations of Holocaust survivors’ descendants (Aarons & Berger, 2017; Fossion et al., 2003). The literature on genocide survivors also expanded to include groups such as the Tutsi people in Rwanda (Berckmoes et al., 2017; Rudahindwa et al., 2018), survivors of the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia (Field et al., 2011), Ukrainians subjected to Holodomor (man-made famine caused by the Soviet state) (Zasiekina et al., 2021), and the Armenian genocide in Turkey (Kalayjian & Weisberg, 2002; Karenian et al., 2011).
Some studies reveal increased proportions of psychological disorders or symptoms meeting clinical thresholds in genocide survivors’ descendants compared to control groups or the general populations (Danieli et al., 2015; Giladi & Bell, 2013; Karenian et al., 2011; Kidron et al., 2019; Letzter-Pouw et al., 2014; Perroud et al., 2014; Rudahindwa et al., 2018), while others confirm the previously mentioned theme around vulnerability to more intense responses in the face of stress or adversity. Specific studies conclude that genocide survivors’ descendants experienced more distress when faced with life threatening illness compared to the general population (Baider et al., 2006), express more anxiety about the threats posed by ISIS (Hoffman & Shrira, 2017), experienced higher preoccupation with Iranian nuclear threat (Shrira, 2015), and were more likely to receive a PTSD diagnosis after serving in the military compared to a control group of war veterans (Solomon et al., 1988). These findings point to the applicability of the psychosocial diathesis-stress perspective, which holds that psychopathology may occur when existing vulnerabilities (biological or experiential) are triggered by direct stressors (Markward et al., 2000; Wolfner & Gelles, 1993).
The research reveals a sense of a stigmatised, unspoken family or societal secret in descendants of many genocide survivors, correlated with higher levels of emotional distress (Berckmoes et al., 2017; Kahn & Denov, 2022; Loewenberg, 2012; Zasiekina et al., 2021). Sleep disturbance also emerged as a theme, with several research participants across various studies reporting intense nightmares of concentration camps, loss of loved ones, and other genocide related scenarios (Cohn & Morrison, 2018; Gertz, 1986; Kalayjian & Weisberg, 2002; Kellermann, 2013; Zasiekina et al., 2021).
The literature also makes note of post traumatic growth and positive adaption in descendants of genocide survivors, particularly in the third generation. Studies reveal that genocide survivors’ descendants display an increased compassion for human suffering (Kellerman, 2001), a pronounced ethical scrutiny of contemporary issues (Cohn & Morrison, 2018), and an inclination towards activism and identification with their survivorship status (King, 2013). Several authors note that subsequent generations, particularly the third generation, exhibit a willingness, even eagerness, to speak openly about their family’s trauma experience, which contrasts with the tendency to avoid the topic as was often the case in original survivors and, to a lesser degree, their children (Fossion et al., 2003; Kahane-Nissenbaum, 2011; Miller & Miller, 1993; Zasiekina et al., 2021). These research participants report a sense of responsibility to preserve information as the possible last generation to personally know the genocide survivors (Aarons & Berger, 2017; Chaitin, 2002; Greenfeld et al., 2022), a focus on justice and reparation (Mangassarian, 2016), the strengthening of ethnic identity and cultural connections (Der Sarkissian & Sharkey, 2021; Zasiekina et al., 2021) and a healing influence on their ancestors (Bar-On, 1995). These findings centralise advocacy, remembrance, activism, and reclamation of culture as purposeful opportunities for recovery, a factor that could translate into work with families involved in child protection contexts over generations.
War
The frequently cited correlation between combat experience and the development of PTSD (Castro-Vale et al., 2019; Suozzia & Motta, 2004) has led to research into the transmission of trauma over generations in descendants of military service personnel (Dekel & Goldblatt, 2008; Lambert et al., 2014; Suozzia & Motta, 2004). Studies into this cohort have largely focused on the occurrence of secondary traumatic stress, vicarious traumatisation, or compassion fatigue, in similarity to that noted in first responders or helping professionals (Galovski & Lyons, 2004; Pearrow & Cosgrove, 2009; Suozzia & Motta, 2004). The incorporation of such research on intergenerational war trauma into intergenerational child protection contexts suggests, as does the previously discussed silence and secrecy in genocide survivors, the need to carefully attend to the trauma narrative when working with families who have experienced intergenerational child maltreatment.
As with the previously discussed literature on genocide survivors’ descendants, much of the research focuses on the presence or absence of mental health diagnoses in offspring. Studies indicate that children of veteran families are more likely to have clinically recognised externalising behaviours (such as ADHD and conduct disorder) than those from non-veteran families (Bommersbach et al., 2022), an increased risk of PTSD if their war-experienced parent was diagnosed with PTSD (Galovski & Lyons, 2004), an increased likelihood of seeking psychiatric treatment if their parent had PTSD (Davidson & Mellor, 2001), and an increased likelihood of PTSD, depression and anxiety if their war-experienced parents had PTSD or was a prisoner of war (Al-Turkait & Ohaeri, 2008). However, a notable body of research finds a null hypothesis in relation to military service personnel’s wartime experience or PTSD and the psychopathology of their offspring (Davidson & Mellor, 2001; Glenn et al., 2002), suggesting a repetition of the flawed over-emphasis on clinical thresholds that was seen in genocide survivors’ families.
In contrast, non-clinical symptomology and functional difficulties in the offspring of war veterans is generally confirmed in the literature, with correlations noted between parents’ war experiences and related PTSD and their children’s emotional and behavioural challenges (Davidson & Mellor, 2001; Suozzia & Motta, 2004; Zerach et al., 2016). The research notes that children of parents who served in the military display increased anger and anxiety (Ahmadzadeh and Malekian, 2004), difficulties with peer relationships (Rosenheck & Fontana, 1998), and insecure attachment styles (Kolvenbach, 2019). In similarity to the literature on genocide survivors’ descendants, the literature on intergenerational impact of combat finds an increased susceptibility to the development of mental health symptomology or diagnosis in times of stress in descendants (Rosenheck & Fontana, 1998) and, retrospectively, that combat experience results in increased vulnerability to PTSD and other mental health disorders if the individual had previously experienced intergenerational disadvantage, oppression or trauma (Coleman, 2016; McCormack et al., 2022). Additionally, the literature identifies the parent generation’s shame-induced reluctance to disclose and discuss the war experience to be a source of relational tension for adult children (McCormack et al., 2022; Ruscio et al., 2002), and the parents’ over disclosure or unconscious re-enactment of trauma to be an overwhelming and vicariously traumatising experience for their offspring (Leiner, 2009).
A small group of studies examines intergenerational effects in the offspring of former child soldiers (Betancourt et al., 2020; Song, 2016; Song et al., 2013, 2014), a cohort particularly relevant when considering the translation of intergenerational trauma literature into child protection research and practice. Increased conduct problems, reduced coping skills, less perceived support from siblings, and heightened sense of family problems, alongside a focus on values which cultivated recovery and survival, are detected in children of former Burundian child soldiers (Song et al., 2013, 2014). However, the paucity of literature in this specific group and limits to similar control groups make it difficult to draw decisive thematic conclusions.
Studies into descendants of civilians who experienced war trauma has also found the presence of increased distress, even when compared to military service personnel (Miller & Rasmussen, 2017; Schick et al., 2013). Song et al. (2013) suggests that the wartime civilian experience comes with a decreased sense of control and activity than wartime combat experience, resulting in unpredictable distress with limited agency. This hypothesis resonates with the somatic experiencing therapeutic modality, which suggests that action, movement, and mobilisation are required to complete and discharge the stress response and move the traumatised person out of a freeze or tonic immobility trauma response (Levine et al., 2018). It is possible that this phenomenon can manifest over generations, with one study finding lower levels of PTSD among the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors if their parent had engaged in military combat (Zerach & Solomon, 2016).
Geographical Displacement
Research into the intergenerational transmission of trauma in families who have left their country and culture due to violence, climate change, or invasion explores the impacts of adversities experienced in the country of origin and discrimination and oppression in the host country (Denov et al., 2019; Sanmuhanathan, 2020; Steel et al., 1999). Some researchers suggest that the experience of migration may be as psychologically significant for future generations as Holocaust or war survival (Kellerman, 2001; Miller & Rasmussen, 2017; Solkoff, 1992) with the term “triple trauma paradigm” (Flanagan et al., 2020, p. 2; Miller & Rasco, 2004) encompassing the compounding stressors and adversities experienced pre, during, and post migration.
In similarity to previously discussed literature on other cohorts, children of refugees or asylum seekers are found to experience higher rates of psychological distress, hyperactivity, behavioural symptoms and peer interactions, which was often mediated by parents’ trauma related mental health symptoms (Bryant et al., 2018; East et al., 2018; Panter‐Brick et al., 2014; Sangalang & Vang, 2017; Spencer & Le, 2006; Vaage et al., 2011). They are also diagnosed with mental health and behavioural conditions such as ADHD, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other psychological conditions (Daud et al., 2005; Karenian et al., 2011) at higher rates than control groups or the general population. The research finds that experiences of harsh or emotionally distant parenting styles, exposure to domestic and family violence, and disrupted attachments contribute to the levels of distress experienced by offspring (Dalgaard et al., 2016; De Haene et al., 2013; Han, 2005; Kara & Stuart, 2021; Sangalang & Vang, 2017; Scharpf et al., 2021; van Ee et al., 2016), as do both excessive or absent family narratives of the trauma experience pre-, post-, and during migration (Dalgaard & Montgomery, 2015; Kizilhan et al., 2022; Kwan, 2019; Lev–Wiesel, 2007; Sanmuhanathan, 2020). Several studies concentrated on structural and social systems in the host country, often finding that these maintain and exacerbate intergenerational disadvantage for families of displaced people (Crankshaw et al., 2023; Steel et al., 1999). This point has resonances with the experiences of poverty, structural oppression, and discrimination often experienced by families involved with child protection systems (Bennett et al., 2020; Procter et al., 2022) and emphasises the pertinence of a systemic perspective when working with this cohort.
Other notable findings from the literature include increased perceptions of racism and bullying in children of refugees whose parents display depressive symptoms in comparison to a control group of refugee families without depression (East et al., 2018), inter-familial tensions around acculturation of younger generations and perceptions of deculturation in older generations which results in relational tension within the family unit (Ayika et al., 2018; Der Sarkissian & Sharkey, 2021; Dinh et al., 1994; Weine et al., 2004), and a role-reversal tendency where children take leadership roles in their families when communicating and engaging with systems in their new country (Denov et al., 2019).
Post-traumatic growth has also been a focus of the literature on populations who have migrated to new countries following oppression, adversity, or violence in their country of origin (Atallah, 2017; Denov et al., 2019). The research identifies an assortment of approaches leading to intergenerational recovery among refugee and migrant populations, including a return to cultural roots (Atallah, 2017; Kizilhan et al., 2022), space for trauma discourse in educational, social, and familial settings (Lin et al., 2009), engaging in higher education as a way of honouring ancestors’ sacrifices (Kwan, 2019) or restoring pre-flight social status (Lev–Wiesel, 2007), artistic creation in depicting the trauma story (Kizilhan et al., 2022), and awareness within helping professionals of culturally sensitive adaptions to mainstream psychological healing models (Kizilhan & Wenzel, 2020). The eclectic and culturally dependant variety of resilience and recovery measures suggests the need to avoid monocultural assumptions or the application of rigid and prescriptive treatment models when working with families who have experienced migration. For instance, several authors note the disparity between the Western focus on talking about troubling situations as a form of healing, and the norms in many other cultures around maintaining family privacy (Dalgaard & Montgomery, 2015; Gopalkrishnan, 2018; Valibhoy et al., 2017). This finding is applicable to child protection contexts, with several authors suggesting that prioritising family and cultural values and preferences regarding healing, rather than prescriptive or manualised models, enhances the efficacy of interventions (Hall, 2011; Kaur, 2012; Mroczkowska, 2024).
Colonisation
The trauma of colonisation is particularly pertinent when considering the translation of wider knowledge on intergenerational transmission into child protection contexts. Child protection systems are described as a “site of colonisation” (Wanganeen, 2022), with the increasing disparities in the rates of Indigenous versus non-Indigenous children encountering children protection systems worldwide representing a current and ongoing system-perpetuated process of colonisation (Atkinson, 2002; Funston & Herring, 2016; McCallum, 2022). In Australia, Indigenous children are 10.5 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children, (Secretariat of National Aboriginal & Islander Child Care, 2023) and (in 2020–2021) accounted for 29.4% of substantiated reports and 39.15% of care and protection orders, despite comprising just under 6% percent of the Australian population aged 0 to 17 (Australian Government Productivity Commission, 2022). Similar disproportions are seen in other nations. Over half (52.5%) of the children in the Canadian care system are Indigenous, despite representing only 7.7% of the total population (Matheson et al., 2022) and half of the Indigenous and Black families in one US state were investigated for child abuse or neglect, compared to over 1 in 4 of the general population (Putnam-Hornstein et al., 2021).
Experiences of colonisation can be viewed as a culmination of the previously discussed traumas of genocide, war, and geographical dislocation. Colonial wars were often the outcome of the forced occupation (Brave Heart, 2003; Kennedy, 2021), comparable to international warfare experiences. Several authors argue that assimilation processes, such as the forced removal of children and monitoring of marriage in Australia for genetic absorption (Broome, 2012; Menzies, 2019a) and the forced institutionalisation of Indigenous children and non-consensual sterilizations of Indigenous women in America and Canada (Matheson et al., 2022; Walls & Whitbeck, 2012) meet the definition for genocide through the intent of annihilation of a racial group over generations (Barkan, 2003; Bartrop, 2001; Broome, 2012; Cunneen & Libesman, 2000; Ellinghaus, 2009; Evans-Campbell, 2008; Kirmayer et al., 2000). Colonisation also often involved the forced or coerced relocation away from community and country to missions, reserves, or boarding houses (Atkinson, 2002; Denov & Campbell, 2002; Menzies, 2019b; Walls & Whitbeck, 2012), a particularly profound trauma for Indigenous people given the interconnection between people, ancestors, spirit and land (Atkinson, 2002; Berndt & Berndt., 1988; Krichauff, 2017; Matheson et al., 2022; McCallum, 2022; Nicolai & Saus, 2013). Furthermore, there was no single, time-limited event affecting a single generation of Indigenous peoples, such as Holocaust or combat experience, which while often prolonged and profoundly harmful, involved a tangible ending to the traumatic event. Instead, the intergenerational traumas of colonisation have been amplified and compounded over the generations through ongoing experiences of colonisation and post colonisation, including poverty, discrimination, illness, grief, child removal, and incarceration (Bombay et al., 2014; Menzies, 2019b; O’Neill et al., 2018; O'Neill, 2019; Paradies, 2016; Stewart & Losurdo, 2015).
The literature on the intergenerational aspects of colonisation trauma is concentrated most predominantly on Indigenous groups in Canada, North America, and Australia (Bombay et al., 2009; Brave Heart et al., 2011; Matheson et al., 2022; Menzies, 2019b; O’Neill et al., 2018), with a limited number of studies into colonised people in New Zealand, Mexico, and other nations (Cacari Stone et al., 2021; Dempster-Rivett et al., 2022; Love, 2002; Pihama et al., 2014). The research reveals trauma symptomology in descendants including emotional dysregulation, drug and alcohol abuse and other self-destructive behaviours, interpersonal difficulties, personal and family violence, intrusive thoughts and memories, and rejection of culture (Bombay et al., 2009; Brave Heart, 2003; Hoffart & Jones, 2018; Holder, 2023; Jacobs & Davis, 2017; Krakouer et al., 2022).
The emotional wellbeing and mental health of Indigenous people who experienced intergenerational trauma is explored in the literature. In 2018–2019, 24% of surveyed Indigenous Australians reported a diagnosed mental health or behavioural condition (Martin et al., 2023). A comparable contrast of this data to statistics on the adult Australian population in 2017–2018 finds psychological diagnosis to be not significantly dissimilar, with 20.1% of Australians reporting a mental health diagnosis (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). Similar rates between the mental health of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada leads to speculation that this unexpected finding may be related to the reduced help-seeking behaviours (resulting in assessment and diagnoses) Indigenous people may exhibit compared to other groups due to historical systemic abuse and mistreatment (Kirmayer et al., 2000). However, this may also mirror findings in previously discussed cohorts involving the lack of statistically significant findings when focusing on clinical diagnosis. When the measurement criteria for colonised people concentrates on emotional and psychological wellbeing, more significant disparities between families of trauma survivors and the control groups are observed. Children of members of the Stolen Generations in Western Australia are reported to be twice as likely to experience significant emotional and behavioural difficulties and twice as likely to use drugs or alcohol compared to Aboriginal children whose parents were not stolen (De Maio et al., 2005), over two and half times as likely to be at high risk for significant emotional and behavioural challenges, and over two times as likely to meet this threshold if their parent, but not grandparent, had been removed (Silburn et al., 2006). Thirty-one percent of Indigenous Australian adults surveyed (Martin et al., 2023) compared to 13% of surveyed Australians (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018) report high to very high levels of psychological distress on the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Substance use and addiction, an effective form of numbing or circumnavigating psychological anguish (Marsh et al., 2022; Nutton & Fast, 2015), among Indigenous people is well cited in the literature (Barker et al., 2019; Duran et al., 1998; Estrada, 2009; Krakouer et al., 2022), while suicidal thoughts and behaviours are found to be significantly more common in Australian Indigenous people (Islam et al., 2022; Martin et al., 2023; Parker & Ben-Tovim, 2002) and children and grandchildren of Indigenous Canadians removed from families and raised in Indian Residential Schools (Elias et al., 2012; Menzies, 2008; Moniruzzaman et al., 2009). Indeed, recent studies suggest that Indigenous Canadians complete suicide at rates of two to ten times that of non-Indigenous Canadians (Matheson et al., 2022) and Indigenous Australians complete suicide at four times the rate of their non-Indigenous peers (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018).
More hopefully, the literature on transgenerational responses to trauma for colonised peoples accentuates resilience and recovery to a far greater degree than that of other cohorts, with this group positioned at the forefront of intergenerational healing. Kennedy (2021) states, “(t)he process of healing is second nature to Aboriginal people” (p. 231), going on to express the inseparability of trauma and recovery for Indigenous people in colonised Australia. Indigenous Australians emphasise the value in maintaining and reclaiming cultural narratives and connection to country through dreamtime stories, art, dance, and song in recovery (Atkinson, 2002; Dockery, 2010; Toomey, 2015; Tujague & Ryan, 2023), and in constructing meaningful associations between the trauma experiences of different generations for greater compassion and relational healing (Gee et al., 2020). Many Australian Indigenous cultures practice Dadirri, a relational philosophy and oral practice of engaging in deep, reflective and respectful listening through tuning into the “deep spring that is inside us” (Ungunmerr-Baumann, 2002, p. 1). Dadirri centralises the acknowledgement of historical harms, and the healing of spiritual wounds (Kennedy, 2021; Tracey, 2015; Ungunmerr-Baumann et al., 2022; Walters, 2014). Yarning circles, sometimes termed clinical yarning or therapeutic yarning (Burke et al., 2022; Wanjunagalin & Thompson, 2023), in Australian Indigenous culture also provides a narrative space for shared grieving, comfort, cultural safety, and re-authorising of the life story (Tracey, 2015; Wanjunagalin & Thompson, 2023). New Zealand Māori practices of Wairua (connection with spirit and self), Pou (culturally derived strength and leadership for the self and others) and Turangawaewae (a place to stand and belong) are noted as integral in healing in one study (Dempster-Rivett et al., 2022), accentuating the importance of belonging, activism and cultural connection. Research into Indigenous cultural healing practices worldwide finds an emphasis on narrative and sharing of experience (Brave Heart-Jordan, 1995; Denham, 2008; Krichauff, 2017; Marsh et al., 2016; McCabe, 2008), a reclamation of culture and cultural healing practices (Gone, 2013; Halloran, 2004; Marsh et al., 2016; Menzies, 2008; Smallwood et al., 2021), and leadership through activism and volunteering to motivate political recognition of harm and to facilitate collective healing (Kirmayer et al., 2011; Walters, 2014).
Animal Studies
Quantitative and positivist research involving experimental animal studies adds to the scope of knowledge on intergenerational responses to trauma, enhancing the scientific and empirical framework surrounding the social phenomenon of intergenerational child maltreatment. While there has been some criticism of some of these studies based on sample size and non-comparable experimental and control groups (Callaway, 2013; Ptashne, 2013), many researchers note the benefits of the controlled experimental conditions possible in animal studies (an unfeasible goal in human subjects due to ethical obligations and the impracticability of longitudinal multigenerational studies within human lifespans) and highlight the legitimacy of exploring the phenomenon of intergenerational adaptions to trauma and child maltreatment with mammal research subjects (van Steenwyk et al., 2018).
Several studies introduced stressful or traumatic experiences in one generation of animal subjects and observed the outcome of their offspring and subsequent generations against various criteria. One such investigation exposed groups of baby mice to unpredictable maternal separation in the first fourteen days of life and assessed factors such as sensitivity to stress, ability to enjoy pleasure, and persistence in problem solving in these mice and in two generations of offspring (Franklin et al., 2010). The study finds avoidant and immobility responses suggestive of depressive and anxious behaviours, with gender-specific variations in transmission. Another study observing three generations of rhesus monkeys which were randomly assigned to either be raised by their mother or separated at birth and raised by human caregivers conclude that the observed benefits over the lifespan (health and social ranking) of being raised by the mother was only apparent for the offspring of monkeys who had also been raised by their mothers (Dettmer et al., 2020). A further instance of research which conditioned mice to associate the scent of acetophenone (cherry blossom) with an electric shock found that two generations of offspring (who were conceived through IVF and raised by foster-parents to negate the possibility of social transmission) demonstrated anxiety related responses to the smell of acetophenone without ever having experienced electric shock themselves (Dias & Ressler, 2014b). A follow up study to this injected ribonucleic acid (RNA), a translator and carrier of genetic information, into naïve zygotes, finding that the resulting offspring also experienced increased sensitivity to the olfactory stimulus into adulthood (Aoued et al., 2020). When considering the concept of intergenerational maltreatment and removal of children, one wonders whether the effects of communication from child protection officials on families with involvement with these systems over generations may be somewhat analogous to the triggering scent of cherry blossom in the offspring of conditioned subjects. Other studies conclude that the offspring of mice exposed to cumulative (each generation was exposed) pre-natal stress expressed levels of anxiety-like behaviours which increased over generations (McCreary et al., 2016), that following a traumatic experience in first generation mouse subjects depressive symptoms persisted to the third generation and risk-taking behaviours to the fourth generation in descendants (van Steenwyk et al., 2018), and the offspring of male mice exposed to chronic social defeat show increased anxiety and depression related behaviours (although this was mitigated considerably when reproduction occurred via IVF in this study [Dietz et al., 2011]).
Some studies have explored the impact of trauma on the survivability of young. One study finds reduced gestational timeframes in the offspring of rats exposed to stress (Yao et al., 2014), while another finds that breast milk from stressed mothers during the first weeks of lactation results in piglet losses as high as 15% (Gimsa et al., 2022). The previously mentioned study involving rhesus monkeys (Dettmer et al., 2020) finds no differences in fertility or still-birth in the descendants of subjects raised by mothers compared to those raised by human caregivers (and thereby subjected to early stress), but a statistically significant possibility of infant mortality in the first month of life for the latter. The authors note that this finding is consistent with observational studies in the wild suggesting that early adversity affects survival rates of offspring in baboons (Thayer & Sweetman, 2019; Zipple et al., 2019).
Biological Research
The contributions of bioscience have demonstrated that the effect of trauma leaves an organic impact on subsequent generations, with measurable differences in the activation or deactivation of genes and associated biological functions (Klengel et al., 2016; Švorcová, 2023; Youssef et al., 2018). As with the studies on mammals, this research surrounds the concept of intergenerational child maltreatment with scientific and biological validation, confirming that the vulnerabilities exist on a cellular and epigenetic level. This theory posits intergenerational transmission occurs through epigenetic markers which alter the expression of DNA at different times in an individual’s pre-conception, pre-natal, and lived experience. Epigenetic inheritance refers to the alteration in the expression of DNA in germ cells (sperm or egg) to prepare the individual for conditions that they may encounter in their life based on previous generations’ experiences (Blake & Watson, 2016; Harper, 2005; Krippner & Barrett, 2019; Lassi & Teperino, 2020). A very small number of epigenetic markers (which switch genes on or off) are theorised to survive the “reset” (erasure of epigenetic tags) which occurs during the generation of the germ cell (egg or sperm) and again between fertilisation and the implantation of the embryo, resulting in methylation (silencing of certain genes) within the DNA and thereby allowing for some aspects of parental memory and experience to biologically manifest in their children (Hackett et al., 2013; Krippner & Barrett, 2019; Roberts et al., 2018; Tang et al., 2015). It is noted that maternal experiences may epigenetically directly affect three generations of offspring (the mother, the foetus and the foetus’ developing reproductive cells) while males’ pre-conception experiences are only able to directly influence two generations (the father and the sperm cell) as sperm is created throughout reproductive years while oocytes (pre ova) develop in utero (Klengel et al., 2016; Otterdijk & Michels, 2016). Intrauterine epigenetic programming recognises the sensitive time of pregnancy in affecting offspring’s genetic expression (Braun et al., 2020; Kertes et al., 2016; Mbiydzenyuy et al., 2022; Švorcová, 2023; Szyf, 2015). Additionally, epigenetic alterations are constantly at work throughout life, modifying the expression of genes to optimise our adaptability to environmental and social conditions (Harper, 2005; Szyf, 2015).
Much of the research on epigenetic inheritance as it refers to the intergenerational transmission of trauma focuses on the glucocorticoid system and the associated reactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) functioning, which regulates the activation and deactivation of the stress response (Daskalakis et al., 2021; Kertes et al., 2016; Švorcová, 2023; Yahyavi et al., 2014; Yehuda et al., 2011, 2016) and is associated with emotional and psychological distress and mood disorders (McGowan et al., 2009; Rodgers et al., 2013). Inhibited expression of genes responsible for glucocorticoid receptors (Fish et al., 2004; Gapp et al., 2016; Švorcová, 2023), alongside generally reduced (Brand et al., 2010; Feng et al., 2011; Goerlich et al., 2012; Oberlander et al., 2008; Perroud et al., 2014; Yehuda et al., 2005) but sometimes increased (Dietz et al., 2011; Huang et al., 2012) levels of cortisol (corticosterone in rodent subjects [Raff, 2016]) were found in the germ cells and descendants of research subjects exposed to stress or trauma. Cortisol is the second hormone released (following adrenaline) in times of intense stress, and both high and low cortisol levels result in difficulties recovering from stress-inducing situations and are associated with depressive, anxious and PTSD related symptomology (Kaitz et al., 2009; Yehuda et al., 2011).
The research on intergenerational responses to trauma found inhibited or overactive responses in several other biological systems. The inhibition of genes related to the production, reception and transportation of serotonin (associated with regulation of mood and mental health) is observed in the descendants of subjects exposed to stress (Bouvette‐Turcot et al., 2015; Franklin et al., 2010; Razoux et al., 2017). Oxytocin (a hormone associated with nurturing maternal behaviours, ejection of milk into the ducts, and contractions during childbirth), sensitivity to oxytocin, and epigenetic markers related to oxytocin production is found to be blunted in mothers who had experienced trauma (Babb et al., 2014; Bos, 2017; Buchheim et al., 2022; Kim & Strathearn, 2017), theorised to reduce the hormone’s usually positive emotional rewards and incentive towards mother-baby bonding (Bos, 2017; Cicchetti & Feldman, 2015). Further, prolactin, a hormone stimulating milk production following childbirth, is reported to be decreased in mothers who had experienced trauma (Babb et al., 2014), while an enzyme that contributes to a placental shield which translates maternal cortisol into a non-toxic form for their foetus in the third trimester of pregnancy was less prolific in mothers who had experienced trauma, particularly if their trauma occurred in childhood (Bierer et al., 2014; Yehuda et al., 2009). More encouraging epigenetic adaptions on the germ cell are also apparent in the literature, with the offspring of mothers with reduced levels of the enzyme referred to above actually displaying increased levels of this enzyme, suggesting a possible compensatory element during intrauterine development (Bierer et al., 2014; Yehuda, 2021).
Other studies have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies and post-mortem examination to explore the neurological structures and signalling in descendants of trauma survivors (Braun et al., 2020; Mbiydzenyuy et al., 2022; Moog et al., 2018). Findings suggest that parents’ pre-conception stress or intrauterine trauma results in reduced neural density and epigenetic changes in the activation of genes associated with neurological connectivity and plasticity (McCreary et al., 2016), impaired synaptic plasticity, weakened signalling between neurons, and long-term memory deficits (Bohacek et al., 2015), and thinner cortexes and disruptions in the connectivity between brain regions including the hippocampus (learning and memory centre), amygdala (fear response), and frontal cortex (higher order thinking) (De Asis-Cruz et al., 2020; Mbiydzenyuy et al., 2022; Wu et al., 2020). The research also suggests that newborns of stressed mothers have, on average, shorter telomeres (strands protecting chromosomes and associated with longevity and protection from somatic and psychological disorders) (Carroll et al., 2020; Marchetto et al., 2016; Send et al., 2017).
A less deterministic, and perhaps more hopeful, outlook on the research on epigenetics in intergenerational transmission suggests that epigenetic alterations to the germ cell are reversible, particularly in sensitive periods including the pre-natal period and childhood (Gapp et al., 2014; Rasmussen & Storebø, 2021; Yehuda, 2021). Controlled studies have noted changes in the genetic expression of bodily functions with a more moderated HPA stress response and changes in the hippocampal gene expression related to the glucocorticoid system when subjects received improved maternal nurturing (Fish et al., 2004; Weaver et al., 2004), that the silencing of a serotonin transporter gene, which resulted in increased distress in research subjects, was mitigated somewhat by secure maternal attachments in infancy (Suomi, 2011), and that individuals with PTSD who participated in therapy had reduced methylation of a gene associated with affective disorders, suggesting increased biological resilience against symptoms of mental illness (Yehuda et al., 2013).
Patterns and Triggers
There are some, albeit contentious, suggestions in the literature that the intergenerational repetition of trauma experience or response may follow certain patterns in relation to timing, gender, and manifestation. An intergenerational application of the concept first referred to as the “anniversary syndrome” over 70 years ago (Hilgard, 1953) suggests that second generation children may experience traumas or display trauma responses when they reached the age their parent was when the original trauma was sustained (Schützenberger, 2014; Welford, 2019; Wolynn, 2017). One early study finds that over half of the 30 hospitalised offspring of Holocaust survivors in the research cohort exhibited trauma and mental health symptomology when they reached the age their parent was during the Holocaust (Axelrod et al., 1980), while others describe the abandonment of children or experiences of loss and grief at the same age for a number of family members over several generations (Schützenberger, 2014).
The literature also reveals possible gender specific intergenerational transmission pathways, with the majority of studies into this potential phenomenon suggesting that daughters are more likely to be affected by their parents’ trauma than sons (Amy et al., 2002; Burchert et al., 2017; Felton, 1998; Franklin et al., 2010; Lichtman, 1984). Exploration into transmission of trauma response as it relates to the gender of the survivor parent has also been conducted, with studies reporting contrasting outcomes, such as an increased risk of PTSD transmission through the maternal line while a father’s PTSD was more likely to predict depression in offspring (Yehuda et al., 2008), a more prominent transgenerational effect for paternal transmission than maternal (Schick et al., 2013), the finding that sons were more affected by their mother’s trauma symptomology while daughters were more affected by that of their fathers (Kim et al., 2009), and reduced longevity for sons and male line grandsons, but not for daughters and female line descendants, if the grandfather had been a prisoner of war (Costa, 2024).
Some research suggests that trauma may skip a generation, with the hypothesis that some individuals may be asymptomatic carriers of trauma, similar to transmission pathways of some genetically transmitted diseases (Bulmer, 1998; Franklin et al., 2010; Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2008). Gender-specific pathways may be implicated in this possible phenomenon, with one study finding that male offspring of mice subjected to stress were less likely to display depression-like trauma responses and stress sensitivity than their female equivalents, but these trauma responses were apparent in their progeny of both sexes (Franklin et al., 2010). While the literature on intergenerational patterning of trauma response is eclectic, discordant, and variable in terms of thematic conclusions, its re-emergence over decades of research suggests that the concept is deserving of consideration and further exploration in relation to intergenerational child maltreatment.
Discussion
This review, while not exhaustive (intergenerational trauma is studied in relation to other traumas such as interpersonal abuse in adulthood, slavery, and experiences of natural disaster [Degruy-Leary, 2017; Lambert et al., 2014]), reveals themes in the ways in which intergenerational trauma integration is framed and cognised in different cohorts of trauma survivors. While the research on intergenerational continuity of child maltreatment focuses on incidents, characteristics, and maltreatment types that may perpetuate or break intergenerational cycles of child abuse or neglect, the wider knowledge exploring genocide, war, geographical displacement, colonisation, animal studies and biological influence approaches the topic from more holistic and curious perspectives. It exposes manifold effects of intergenerational trauma survivorship, suggests diverse transmission mechanisms, and draws attention to the non-deterministic susceptibility to psychological and functional challenges in trauma survivors’ descendants (“inherited vulnerabilities”) and naturally resulting recovery practices (“innate remedies”). This knowledge presents an opportunity to expand the already contextual approach to child and adolescent social work through enhancing focus on the longitudinal and intergenerational influences. Harnessing existing data on the occurrence, sequalae, and mastery of trauma over generations has potentially profound implications for practice, policy, and research. This may involve shifted perceptions of families internal and external experiences, insights into the efficacy and altruism of current social work approaches in the field, and the development of new training, policy guidelines, and practice tools for use with people who have experienced child maltreatment over generations.
A thoughtful and critical mindset is urged in the translation of themes from the wider literature into child protection contexts. Experiences of childhood maltreatment involve unique and complex components that may not precisely replicate the trauma experiences in other groups. Firstly, the impacts of trauma are considered to be more intense and pervasive if sustained in childhood (Anda et al., 2006; van der Kolk, 2014; van der Kolk et al., 2005), theorised to be due to the amplification of neurological plasticity and relational reliance during development. The brain forms and consolidates synaptic pathways (the basis for thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours) at a rapid rate in childhood and adolescence, resulting in profound and lasting neurological formations affecting worldviews and schemas should trauma be sustained during this period (Cross et al., 2017; Perry & Szalavitz, 2017; van der Kolk, 2003). Additionally, maltreatment experiences in childhood are often caused by the action or inaction of caregivers (Bartlett et al., 2017; US Department of Health and Human Services., 2023), who are also the child’s sources of safety and nurturing. Babies and young children are automatically and instinctively predisposed towards connection-seeking with their caregivers to obtain nutrition, warmth, and other nurturing responses essential for survival. They also have an instinctual drive to withdraw from and avoid danger, pain, and fear. When the source of harm is also the source of nurturing, it creates an unresolvable dilemma for the child that impacts markedly on their relational patterning and autonomic stress response (Cohn, 2022; Liotti, 2004). Several authors are advocating for a specific diagnosis, DTD (Developmental Trauma Disorder), to recognise these distinctions as separate from both PTSD and the more recent C-PTSD (complex PTSD, which encapsulates multiple instances of trauma and relational trauma) (Ford, 2023; van der Kolk, 2005).
It is also worth noting that the trauma experienced by families with intergenerational involvement with child protection systems is not isolated to one generation, as is the case with, for instance, Holocaust survivors. Instead, and in similarity to the literature’s findings on colonisation and some refugee experiences, the trauma is often compounded and complicated over each generation, resulting in multiple and often inseparable harms and responses. Additionally, involvement in child protection systems can result in the separation of children from their parents if they enter formal out-of-home care, thereby limiting the opportunities for family communication and maintenance of relationships that the literature suggests can be a potent instrument of intergenerational healing and processing.
Inherited Vulnerabilities
The literature on intergenerational responses to trauma makes clear that the transmission of adversity, mental health symptomology, and trauma responses is far from predestined. However, research in the reviewed cohorts observes an increased vulnerability to these difficulties in the children and grandchildren of survivors, which is often activated when the individual encounters their own stresses and adversities. Translating this diathesis-stress model into the field of childhood maltreatment galvanises thoughtful reflection on the experiences of families with multi-generational involvement in child protection systems (Markward et al., 2000; St-Laurent et al., 2019), and motivation to consider and provide justice for generations of children into the future (Bartholet, 2014).
Despite its rewards, parenthood itself is almost universally considered to contain stressful experiences (Iyengar et al., 2019), with the literature noting that people with an abuse history are more likely to perceive and approach the parental role with apprehension or anxiety (Amos et al., 2015; Dixon et al., 2009; Finzi-Dottan & Harel, 2014; Rodriguez & Richardson, 2007). Further, the attachment experience of parenting may activate a parent’s own relational or attachment trauma, evoking emotional distress and trauma responses (Amos et al., 2015; Thompson, 2018). The research into biological changes in trauma survivors and their offspring also suggests that some functions of mothering (including birthing, breastfeeding, and mother-baby bonding) may be hindered through epigenetic changes to hormonal systems which regulate and influence these functions, resulting in organic challenges that may intensify maternal anxieties.
Further, a statutory child protection intervention is highly likely to be an intense and acute stressor for families with an intergenerational history of involvement in child protection systems, particularly when there have been historic child removals, possibly resulting in intense cognitive, emotional, and behavioural reactions. Research suggests that parents’ unresolved trauma hinders engagement with child protection systems (Thompson, 2018), and that parents’ expression of anger, distress, and avoidance towards child protection professionals is a significant factor in assessments regarding perceived risk to children (Mirick, 2013; Quick & Scott, 2019). The “inherited vulnerabilities” concept frames parenthood, child protection interventions and other life stressors as potential triggers of internal and external trauma reactions in parents, which can be predicted and planned for. Implications for practice may include pre-natal screening for childhood or intergenerational maltreatment at a primary health care level (Sperlich et al., 2017), the provision of additional parenting and practical supports (Negriff et al., 2020), altering child protection assessments to a holistic and ongoing approach rather than a point-in-time (usually at the initial meeting with a family when stress responses are more likely to be activated) evaluation of child safety (Sheppard, 2003), and increasing practitioner skill in sensitively exploring intergenerational history (Stob et al., 2020).
An understanding of the intergenerationally transmitted vulnerabilities for children also promotes a more empathetic and considered approach. Professionally acquired knowledge on the outcomes of trauma and insecure attachments may lead professionals to hypothesize that a child’s hyperactive, withdrawn, disorganised, or risk-taking behaviours are indicative of having directly experienced abuse and neglect, thereby influencing assessments and interventions. However, the wider literature’s findings on the increased prevalence of diagnoses and non-clinical behavioural and emotional difficulties in children of people who survived trauma, in conjunction with the biological evidence on epigenetic and hormonal differences in the stress response system for offspring of trauma survivors, encourages the avoidance of such assumptions. The knowledge emphasizes the increased likelihood of symptomology and, to a lesser degree, diagnosis for child descendants of trauma survivors, potentially adding to the challenges involved in parenting these children and triggering more intense stress responses in the parent. This informed, considered and family-focused perspective on the behaviours of children whose antecedents have experienced trauma encourages more supportive professional and therapeutic responses to intergenerational continuity of childhood harm. Practical strategies could include psychoeducation on intergenerational trauma responses to reduce parental shame and blame, and the provision of increased clinical and paediatric support for children with a history of intergenerational harm and adversity.
The findings in animal studies and biological evidence also have implications for the physical health and survivability of children who experience harm. The well-cited ACE (adverse childhood experiences) study reveals the long-term adverse health outcomes for people who experienced harm in childhood (Anda et al., 2006; Felitti, 2002), and the literature on intergenerational trauma suggests this vulnerability may transmit to subsequent generations, accentuating the significance of primary health screenings. The controlled studies in mammals and the biological evidence as it relates to intergenerational trauma responses also suggests that babies and children of people who have experienced suffering may be more likely to, tragically, die in childhood. Certainly, the research finds that children involved in child protection systems are more likely to die in childhood and adolescence, with the most frequent cause of death being illness and disease (NSW Department of Communities & Justice, 2019; Segal et al., 2021). Drawing attention to this vulnerability holds implications for analyses and interpretations in child death reports, interventions for families and siblings following a child death, and the compounding trauma of grief and loss on family systems.
The broader literature on intergenerational aspects of trauma, particularly that into survivors of genocide, mammal studies, and colonisation, suggests that intergenerational transmission may be evident in three or more generations, with some suggestion that trauma responses may skip a generation or follow gender-specific pathways. This finding generates momentum for research into more than two generations in the field of childhood maltreatment, something that has attracted a limited number of studies (Badenes-Ribera et al., 2020; Buisman et al., 2020) but remains a gap in the literature. There is also potential to enhance policy and practice by looking beyond the parent–child dyad to the experiences of earlier ancestors. This perspective evokes consideration of the availability and accessibility of historic, often archived, child protection records, as well as motivates practitioner-family interactions in which intergenerational history is sought and explored.
Innate Remedies
A focal theme in the literature on intergenerational adaptions to trauma is the often instinctual or community-implemented healing and resilience strategies. Certainly, the literature on many therapeutic practice theories and frameworks amplifies the concept that healing from trauma is a natural tendency of the human condition, given the right conditions and opportunities (Cattanach, 2008; Levine, 1997; Mitchell & Friedman, 2003). Such a theoretical stance, as it applies to work with families who have experienced intergenerational involvement in child protection systems, recognises the role of power and structural forces in the capacity for resilience (McLean et al., 2024) and places the emphasis for the practitioner on creating conditions for healing through attention to the socio-political context. Families who come to the attention of child protection systems worldwide are more likely to be experiencing social and economic disadvantage, racial discrimination, and systemic violence and oppression (Bywaters et al., 2020; Procter et al., 2022), and children who have been in the care system are more likely to experience adversities such as homelessness and incarceration during their lifespan (McFarlane, 2017; Rosenberg & Kim, 2018). As “inherited vulnerabilities” has taught, these experiences have the potential to activate intergenerational trauma symptomology and thereby interrupt the natural healing process. A practice approach that adds to the consideration of these factors in assessments and supports in child protection work, as well as policy changes that provide higher levels of support for care-experienced children into adulthood, may help to remove these impediments to healing.
The literature on genocide survival suggests that family healing is often amplified by the third generation, with literature in many reviewed cohorts finding recovery approaches to include connection with history and culture, engagement in activism and the pursuance of justice, and leadership in supporting others’ recoveries. Certainly, “rediscovering history” (Herman, 2015, p. 2) through engaging with and giving voice to the trauma experience is still considered one of the foundational components of trauma recovery, particularly in Western models. Meaningful opportunities for activism, advocacy, political contribution, and leadership could therefore be provided to families and children involved in child protection systems as an empowering method of healing and cushioning against transmission of maltreatment to subsequent generations. Involvement in such groups may also foster a strong and enduring relational network for survivors, another factor identified in the literature as a buffer against intergenerational continuity of childhood maltreatment.
The literature on intergenerational transmission, particularly in families who have survived genocide, war, and geographic dislocation, emphasise that both a shame-saturated family secret and an unrestrained flooding of traumatic memory in one generation may exacerbate challenges experienced by subsequent generations. This accentuates the importance of communication and shared trauma narrative in safely contained settings and with sensitivity to timing, manner and awareness of the child’s developmental and emotional needs, termed “modulated disclosure” (Dalgaard & Montgomery, 2015). The literature finds this purposeful and sensitive approach to interfamilial and intracommunity communication is familiar to and inherent in many Indigenous communities worldwide, in cultural practices such as Dadirri and yarning circles. The experience of involvement in child protection systems often comes with a sense of stigma, shame, and discomfort (Quick & Scott, 2019; Sykes, 2011), suggesting the possibility that the trauma experience may be supressed or ignored in family and individual narratives. The insights into shame as a potential vehicle of trauma transmission provided in the literature on intergenerational trauma presents the opportunity to strengthen, provide space for, and normalise the trauma narratives (both those leading to child protection intervention and potentially the trauma of experiences within the system itself), particularly for children who enter out-of-home care. An emphasis on thorough and co-constructed life story work and enabling frequent, safe, and independently facilitated family trauma communication (including cultural practices as appropriate) are options that could be implemented to support and propel intergenerational healing.
Conclusion
The literature on intergenerational occurrence of childhood maltreatment provides a meaningful repertoire of personal, family, and systemic traits which may predict or buffer against the likelihood of harm to future generations. However, its possibilities are hampered by theoretical and conceptual limitations. The vast amount of literature on intergenerational transmission of trauma reveals two primary themes with the potential to expand and deepen interventions with families with intergenerational involvement in child protection systems. “Inherited vulnerabilities” situates direct life stressors as possible triggers for the manifestation of intergenerational trauma responses, encouraging analysis of current and potential stressors and adversities that may activate trauma responses for families. “Innate remedies” emphasises the natural predisposition towards psychological healing that been refined by generations of survivors, suggesting that systemic and societal space be provided to accelerate these instinctive recovery mechanisms. Together, these findings have the potential to predicate a more insightful and hopeful outlook in statutory, early-intervention, and therapeutic child protection contexts.
Complexe Systémique: key points
This paper moves a question that child protection often frames as individual failure (“the maltreated child turned maltreating parent”) towards a transgenerational and contextual reading. Two ideas are useful clinically. First, inherited vulnerability is not destiny: it is awakened by stress, and the protective intervention itself, especially in a family that has already experienced child removals, is one of those triggers; a parent’s anger or avoidance at the first meeting therefore does not tell the whole story about risk. Second, healing goes through modulated disclosure, neither shameful secret nor flooding, and through connection to history, culture and community, which Indigenous practices know how to organise. Here we meet the genogram, loyalties and life story work again, with new attention to grandparents and archived records. Limits: a narrative review with no explicit selection method, relying heavily on animal and epigenetic studies whose transfer to humans calls for caution. Read alongside multifamily therapy against the intergenerational effects of psychotrauma, and an Indigenous relational approach to systemic thinking.
Notes from the original
Funding. Open Access funding enabled and organized by CAUL and its Member Institutions
Conflict of Interest. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest, financial or non-financial, to declare.
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Reformatted republication of Inherited Vulnerabilities and Innate Remedies: Reframing “Cycles of Child Maltreatment” Through Attention to the Wider Literature on Intergenerational Aspects of Trauma and Healing, by Crysta Bowe, Cate Thomas and Patricia Mackey, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, vol. 43, no 1 (2026), doi: 10.1007/s10560-025-01027-9, under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Edition and layout: Complexe Systémique, September 2026 — the work has been modified under the terms of the licence. Neither the authors nor the publisher are responsible for this edition; the original version prevails.
This is the original article “Inherited Vulnerabilities and Innate Remedies: Reframing “Cycles of Child Maltreatment” Through Attention to the Wider Literature on Intergenerational Aspects of Trauma and Healing”, published in Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal (2026) under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Republished by Complexe Systémique: the author’s text is unchanged; only the presentation has been adapted for reading online, as set out at the head of this page.
Read the original articleHow to cite this article
Bowe, C., Thomas, C., et Mackey, P. (2026). Inherited Vulnerabilities and Innate Remedies: Reframing “Cycles of Child Maltreatment” Through Attention to the Wider Literature on Intergenerational Aspects of Trauma and Healing. Complexe Systémique. https://app.complexe-systemique.com/en_GB/articles/inherited-vulnerabilities-and-innate-remedies-reframing-cycles-of-child-maltreatment (Original work published in 2025 in Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 43(1), 233-261 (2026); republished in 2026 by Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10560-025-01027-9)
To go further
- Combattre les effets intergénérationnels du psychotraumatisme par la thérapie multifamilialeHealing trauma across generations.
- Une approche relationnelle autochtone de la pensée et de l’être systémiques : l’onto-épistémologie participativeWhat Indigenous knowledge brings.
- « C’est tellement bénéfique de pouvoir arrêter le cycle » : perceptions de la transmission intergénérationnelle de la violenceBreaking the cycle, as families see it.
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