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Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors.

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Abstract

The present study investigated whether prosocial propensities displayed by adult daughters of elderly Holocaust child survivors in a nonclinical/nonselect sample were more pronounced than those in a closely matched comparison group with no Holocaust background. The sample consisted of 78 participants: 42 adult daughters of Holocaust child survivors and 36 women with no Holocaust background in the family. Adult daughters of Holocaust child survivors exhibited elevated physical/medical care and pragmatic help compared with participants without Holocaust background. A Holocaust within-group analysis revealed that higher level of factual knowledge about the mother’s Holocaust experiences was associated with elevated internal and external empathic response toward the mother. Higher level of factual knowledge of the mother’s Holocaust experiences was also exhibited by participants who reported a greater amount of time spent providing pragmatic support to the mother, compared with participants who reported that they did not provide pragmatic support to their mother. The range of the effect size for these outcomes is 0.10 to 0.76. Our findings are consistent with the notion of posttraumatic growth among descendants of Holocaust survivors.
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 1
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust
survivors
Sarit Alkalay
Jezreel Valley Academic College, Department of Psychology
and
University of Haifa, Center for the Study of Child Development
Abraham Sagi-Schwartz
University of Haifa, Department of Psychology and Center for the Study of Child
Development
Hadas Wiseman
University of Haifa, Department of Counseling and Human Development
Corresponding author: Dr. Sarit Alkalay, Center for the Study of Child Development, University of Haifa, 6035 Rabin
Building, Haifa, 31905, Israel, 972-4-8240534, sarital@yvc.ac.il saritalkalay@gmail.com
Prof. Abraham Sagi-Schwartz, Center for the Study of Child Development, University of Haifa, 6035 Rabin Building, Haifa,
31905, Israel, 972-4-8240196, sagi@psy.haifa.ac.il
Prof. Hadas Wiseman, University of Haifa, Department of Counseling and Human Development, Haifa, 31905, Israel, 972-
4-8240864, hadasw@edu.haifa.ac.il
© 2019, American Psychological Association paper is not the copy of record and may not
exactly replicate the final, authoritative version of the article. Please do not copy or cite
without authors' permission. The final article will be available, upon publication, via its DOI:
10.1037/trm0000211
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 2
Abstract
The present study investigated whether prosocial propensities displayed by adult
daughters of elderly Holocaust child survivors in a non-clinical/non-select sample were more
pronounced than in a closely matched comparison group with no Holocaust background. The
sample consisted of 78 participants: 42 adult daughters of Holocaust child survivors, and 36
women with no Holocaust background in the family. Adult daughters of Holocaust child
survivors exhibited elevated physical/medical care and pragmatic help compared to
participants without Holocaust background. A Holocaust within-group analysis revealed that
higher level of factual knowledge about the mother's Holocaust experiences was associated
with elevated internal and external empathic response toward the mother. Higher level of
factual knowledge of the mother's Holocaust experiences was also exhibited by participants
who reported a greater amount of time spent providing pragmatic support to the mother,
compared to participants who reported that they did not provide pragmatic support to their
mother. The range of the effect size for these outcomes is 0.10 0.76 Our findings are
consistent with the notion of post-traumatic growth among descendants of Holocaust
survivors.
Keywords
: Holocaust, post-traumatic growth, prosocial development, empathy, helping
behavior, intergenerational transmission.
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 3
The Holocaust (1939-1945) resulted in the industrialized murder and extermination of
six million Jews. Victims of the Holocaust had to face an irrationally collapsing world, and to
endure unimaginable traumatic experiences. After the Second World War, as part of coming
back to life, the survivors had to cope with many challenges, including grieving for loved
family members who had been murdered, and emotionally processing the traumas and
atrocities they have suffered.
Research on intergenerational transmission of Holocaust trauma has initially focused
mainly on psychopathology and difficulties in the lives of children of Holocaust survivors
(e.g., Danieli, 1998). Clinical case studies portrayed the second generation as having difficulties
in interpersonal relationships and characterized by guilt, depression, aggression, and
separation-individuation conflicts. Several review papers (e.g., Kellermann, 2008) were
published in support of such outcomes. Notably, however, such studies relied mostly on
convenience samples [e.g. Yehuda, Golier, Halligan, & Harvey, 2004; Yehuda, Golier,
Harvey, Stavitsky, Kaufman, Grossman, & Tischler, 2005 (on first generation); Yehuda,
Schmeidler, Elkin, Wilson, Siever, Binder- Brynes, et al., 1998; Yehuda, Schmeidler,
Wainberg, Binder-Brynes, & Duvdevani, 1998 (on second generation)], often drawn from
biased and clinical population), and many of those studies did not include adequate
comparison groups (Solkoff, 1992). As shown in two meta analyses (Barel, van IJzendoorn,
Sagi-Schwartz, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2010; van IJzendoorn, Bakermans-Kranenburg, &
Sagi-Schwartz., 2003), such methodological complications limit the generalizability of their
results and conclusions. In recent years, a more robust methodological approach has been
adopted by some studies, which included an appropriate and well selected comparison group
(e.g. Wiseman, Barber, Raz, Yam, Foltz, & Livne-Snir, 2002; Cohen, Brom, & Dasberg, 2001).
A growing number of methodologically more robust studies found no evidence of an
intergenerational transmission of trauma to the second and third generations (van IJzendoorn,
et al., 2003; Levav, Levinson, Radomislensky, Shemesh, & Kohn, 2007; Sagi-Schwartz, van
IJzendoorn, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2008). In a comprehensive meta-analytic study of 32
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 4
samples, containing 4,418 children of Holocaust survivors, there was no evidence of secondary
traumatization yielded by studies that used appropriate sampling procedures, namely, non-
select (or unbiased) and non-clinical samples (van IJzendoorn et al., 2003). Moreover, in a
quasi-experimental study, with carefully matched Holocaust survivors, their daughters, and
their grandchildren, no intergenerational transmission effects were found in second- and third-
generation offspring of Holocaust survivors on measures of post-traumatic stress, attachment,
mental health, social adaptation, and parenting styledespite the fact that the first generation
of survivors showed post-traumatic symptoms more than half a century after the Holocaust
(Sagi-Schwartz, van IJzendoorn, Grossmann, Joels, Grossmann, Scharf, Koren-Karie, &
Alkalay, 2003; Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2008). The same pattern was evident for both the first and
the second generation in a follow-up study 11 years later (Fridman, van IJzendoorn, Sagi-
Schwartz, & Bakermans-Kranenburg, 2012; for a most updated review, see also Sagi-
Schwartz, 2015).
In light of findings showing an absence of intergenerational transmission of
trauma in studies designed with methodological rigor, we adopted a working assumption
according to which growing up with a parent traumatized by the Holocaust ordeal may
have promoted some positive developmental outcomes. This approach is consistent with
ideas of “positive psychology" that identify growth characteristics in the context of
adversity, hence viewing it not necessarily through the lens of negative developmental
outcomes but as a process that may lend itself to positive after-effects (Sheldon & King,
2001). We followed Seligman’s model of optimal human functioning, which focuses on
contributing factors likely to facilitate growth and thriving even under circumstances of
extreme adversity (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), which may also attest to
remarkable resilience (Shmotkin, Shrira, Shira, Goldberg, & Palgi, 2011; Solomon, 1998).
Our assumption is consistent with the work of Bonanno and Mancini (2012) on coping
with grief and trauma, which also demonstrates a host of outcomes people show when
exposed to extreme adversity, including its salutary role and moderating effect on various
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 5
aspects in people’s live. Furthermore, Ramos & Leal (2012) affirm that a growing number
of studies attest to perceived positive outcomes in the aftermath of a traumatic event.
Tedeschi & Calhoun (1996) have termed these positive changes, as "post traumatic
growth". Linley and Joseph (2004) believe that it is through the process of struggling with
hardship that changes may arise that push the individual to a higher level of functioning
than what existed prior to the event. It has been suggested that stress-induced cognitive
rumination transforms into constructive processing, which in turn initiates the
development of growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Tedeschi & Calhoun (1996; 1998;
2004) described post traumatic growth as having five domains: "personal strengths", "new
possibilities", "relating to others", "appreciation of life", and "spiritual change". A
literature review of studies on post traumatic growth, reveals that 40-70% of participants
experience some positive outcome or benefits following a trauma (Malhutra & Chebiyan,
2016).
The notion that growth is an outcome of distress has rarely been tested
methodically (Dekel, Ein-Dor, & Solomon, 2011). It is only in the past twenty years or so
that systematic efforts have been made to explore post traumatic growth exhibited by
various populations (Malhutra & Chebiyan, 2016). Furthermore, Holocaust research has
scarcely focused thus far on aspects of post traumatic growth. An important related
finding in Holocaust research by Rieck and Eitenger (1983) reported high academic and
career achievements by children of Holocaust survivors. Similarly, Russel, Plotkin, and
Heapy (1985) found high motivation and "success" (academic and otherwise) among adult
children of Holocaust survivors. Thus, we explored in this study another possible positive
outcome: prosocial tendencies among adult daughters of Holocaust child survivors.
Most research to date has looked at how prosocial attitudes and behaviors develop
under ordinary circumstances and less so under traumatic and adverse life experiences. In
a review of the topic, Hoffman (2000) elaborated how in time children begin to
comprehend that others have a personal history, and therefore their reactions toward other
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 6
people are likely to integrate their appraisals of the other's current state and personal
history. When a child understands that the other person has experienced a difficult life
history, an empathic response to the other's distress signals may be enhanced, resulting in
greater efforts to help that person. Along the same line, we propose that offspring of
Holocaust survivors, in their childhood, may have become aware of their parents’
devastating life history, causing them to develop sensitivity to their parents’ distress
signals in everyday life. This sensitivity, in turn, may have transformed into empathic
capacities and helping behaviors toward their Holocaust-surviving parent.
Altruism has been referred to as one possible manifestation of post-traumatic growth
(e.g., Tedeschi, Park, & Calhoun, 1998; Vazquez, Perez-Sales, & Hervas, 2008). It has been
hypothesized that experiencing traumatic events may be a kind of empathy training
(Tedeschi et al., 1998, p. 12) that can lead to enhanced helping behavior. Additionally,
compassion and providing help to others in difficult circumstances may foster healing for
those who have experienced traumatic events (Malhutra & Chebiyan, 2016). Staub (2003) has
coined the term altruism born of suffering to describe how individuals who have
experienced profound suffering may become particularly motivated to help others, not despite
their adverse experiences but precisely because of them. Anecdotal reports and individual case
studies provide initial support for such a hypothesis (Staub & Vollhardt, 2008). In many of such
examples, in addition to the immediate survivors, members of the next generations also
displayed empathy and helping behaviors, although the latter have not experienced the events
personally or directly but grew up with family and community narratives of violence. Thus,
altruism born of suffering
may include intergenerational effects, and the legacy of suffering
can become part of the collective group identity (Alexander, Eyerman, Giesen, Smelser, &
Sztompka, 2004), possibly also across generations within the family.
Only few studies examined the growth of prosocial propensities in the context of the
Holocaust. Carmil and Breznitz (1991) reported that Holocaust survivors were compassionate
toward other victims and expressed a need to prevent situations in which others are victimized.
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 7
Russel, Plotkin, and Heapy (1985) reported that, compared to Jews with no Holocaust
background, adult children of Holocaust survivors stated that as a result of the Holocaust they
found it easier to help Holocaust survivors and other people in trouble. Weinfeld and Sigal
(1986) and Carmil and Breznitz (1991) have argued that children of Holocaust survivors
internalized a humane and flexible approach toward minorities. The prosocial propensities of
the second generation of Holocaust survivors were also manifested in their professions.
Russel, Plotkin, and Heapy (1985) found that descendants of Holocaust survivors were
disproportionately engaged in human-services activities, largely as health providers, especially
as mental health workers, and more so than the comparison group. Likewise, Kellermann
(2008) addressed this issue in a clinical sample of second-generation survivors seeking
psychological support. His findings show that more than half the participants worked as
teachers or in various helping professions, suggesting that because of a close affinity with the
tragedy of their parents, traits such as compassion, empathy, and a deep understanding of
human suffering may have been enhanced in the second generation, resulting in a preference
for helping and teaching professions. Note, however, that Kellerman's and other studies are
based on clinical samples, and often lack adequate comparison groups (Barel, et al., 2010;
Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2008; van IJzendoorn et al., 2003).
To date, there has been little systematic research on the intergenerational effects of
altruism born of suffering. The present study is a pioneering effort to systematically examine
this phenomenon in the context of daughters who were raised in families in which the
Holocaust trauma was part of the family history. Our study is the first attempt to investigate
prosocial propensities, specifically empathy and helping behavior toward the mother, of adult
daughters of elderly Holocaust child survivors in a non-clinical/non-select sample of survivors
and offspring. To capture in more depth the prosocial aspects in the relationship between adult
daughters and their elderly mothers, we designed an interview for the present study, which we
used in addition to the self-report questionnaires that are common in research on the second
generation (Felsen, 1998). Our research consisted of a carefully recruited Holocaust sample,
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 8
well matched with a comparison group (Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003). Our first hypothesis was
that adult daughters of Holocaust survivors show elevated levels of prosocial propensities
toward their mother, compared to their counterparts whose mothers were not Holocaust
survivors.
Equally important is the fact that in many of the studies that focus on the second
generation, the heterogeneity of important variables, which are likely to have moderating
effects, may result in a washing out effect by minimizing potentially detectable differences on
various measures between second generation groups with and without Holocaust background.
One such important variable concerns survivors’ patterns of communication about their
Holocaust experience and the resultant traumas (Wiseman, et al., 2002). A key aspect that was
found to be involved in the intergenerational transmission of various traumas in descendants is
the quality of communication within the family concerning the parents' and grandparents’
traumatic experiences (e.g., Wiseman & Barber, 2008). Some studies suggest that the quality of
verbal and nonverbal communication within the family about the parents’ traumatic
experiences may have important consequences for the inner and interpersonal life of the
children. According to these studies (e.g., Wiseman et al., 2002), children who grew up in
families in which the parents’ trauma was silently present in the home (i.e., communicated
nonverbally), with little or no sharing of factual knowledge about the parents’ trauma, may
become more vulnerable to intergenerational transmission of trauma.
We argue that the family communication patterns concerning the parent's Holocaust
trauma may play a role in the development of prosocial tendencies toward the parent. Support
for our assumption can be found in research focusing on parent-child communication patterns.
Several studies have shown that speaking about emotions in general, and specifically about
difficult emotions (e.g., sadness), enhances the child's ability to take perspective and identify
emotional expressions. Open emotional parent-child communication patterns contribute to the
child's enhanced empathic expressions toward others who are conveying distress signals (e.g.,
Denham, Zoller, & Couchoud, 1994; Eisenberg et al., 1992). Furthermore, one of the factors
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 9
associated with post traumatic growth was found to be emotional disclosure (Taku, Cann,
Tedeschi, & Calhoun, 2009). Such emotional disclosure on the part of parents who have
undergone a trauma, may also foster their children's "altruism born of suffering". We assume
that children exposed to open family communication regarding the Holocaust are likely to
appraise better the parent's point of view, and therefore better understand the parent's motives
and behaviors. Such a capacity may foster empathic responses toward the parent, and result in
more pragmatic help and emotional support. Thus, our second hypothesis was that higher
levels of open verbal family communication regarding the Holocaust are associated with
higher levels of empathy and helping behavior toward the mother.
The present study
The goals of this study were, first, to explore the prosocial propensities of second-
generation adults, with and without Holocaust background; and second, to examine the
differential effect of communication patterns within the family regarding the Holocaust
experience. The following hypotheses were tested on our sample of adult daughters of elderly
women with and without Holocaust background: (a) adult daughters of Holocaust survivors
show higher levels of empathy and helping behavior toward their mothers than do their
counterparts whose mothers were not Holocaust survivors; and (b) elevated level of open
verbal family communication in the Holocaust group regarding the mother's Holocaust
experience is associated with higher levels of empathy and helping behavior toward the
mothers.
Method
Participants
Participants were recruited from the original sample of the Haifa Holocaust Study,
which explored transmission of Holocaust trauma across three generations (Sagi-Schwartz et
al., 2003). A description of the main aspects of the sampling procedure follows because it sheds
light on important markers of the present sample. To avoid recruitment of participants through
convenience and clinical samples, which in most Holocaust studies have been obtained
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 10
through mental health clinics, various Holocaust-related organizations, and advertisements,
Sagi-Schwartz et al. (2003) used alternative methods to ensure recruitment of a sample that is
consistent with quasi-experimental standards: participants were recruited based on population-
wide demographic information provided by the Population Registry, administered by the Israel
Ministry of Interior. The researchers received a list of names that included date of birth and
year of immigration from Europe to Israel, some before the outbreak of the war (1939) and
some after the war ended (1945). The definition of who are "Holocaust survivors" by
demographers and in most studies on Holocaust survivors is "Jews who survived the
Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Europe……. (they) survived the mass extermination carried out
by the Nazis …. or were persecuted by Nazi satellite countries or by Nazi collaborators"
[(Rozett & Spector, 2000 (pp. 427); Bugyeski, 2013 (pp. 2)]. Thus, the working assumption of
Sagi-Schwartz et al. (2003) was that any Jew residing in an occupied country in Europe during
the war, in fact, experienced the Holocaust one way or another, with various degrees of
severity, and therefore should be considered a potential participant in the Holocaust group.
Jews who resided in these countries in Europe before the war but immigrated to Israel with
their parents (and siblings) before 1939, and therefore did not experience the Holocaust directly
could be seen as potential participants in the comparison group. Such a comparison group
bears methodological significance because of the similar cultural background of the
participants in the two groups. Accordingly, Sagi-Schwartz et al.'s (2003) study consisted of
two groups of three-generations family triads: forty-eight women who were Holocaust
survivors and fifty matched comparisons ("First generation-grandmothers"); their adult
daughters ("Second generation-mothers"); and their grandchildren ("Third generation") (for
further details on the recruitment, see Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003).
The Holocaust survivors in the original sample immigrated as orphans to Israel during or
soon after the war. Later in their life, they married in Israel to spouses who themselves were
either Holocaust survivors or not. Their children who were included in the study were women,
born in Israel between 1947-1970 (the second generation and the sample for the present study),
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 11
with at least one healthy child aged 12-15 months at the time of data collection (third
generation). Grandmothers in the comparison group had similar characteristics without the
experience of the Holocaust. They immigrated to Israel as children before the war, without
loss of their parents (and siblings) due to the Holocaust. Sagi-Schwartz et al. (2003) also
recruited their daughters (the comparison group for the present study) and grandchildren, with
characteristics similar to those of the Holocaust group. Thus, similarly to the study of Cohen,
et al., (2001), the careful screening and matching of Holocaust and comparison groups was a
distinctive feature of the quasi-experimental design of the study, which was rarely used in
prior Holocaust research.
For the present study, based on the original sample (n = 98), we located ninety-five
participants (forty-seven from the Holocaust group and forty-eight from the comparison
group). The agreement rate of the potential participants was 93.6% in the Holocaust group (
n
=
44), and 75% in the comparison group (
n
= 36). Our final sample did not include two women of
the Holocaust group, because they resided in regions experiencing violent Israeli-Palestinian
conflicts during data collection. We used the background information that was collected in the
original study (Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003). The mean age of participants in the Holocaust group
was 46.3 (
SD
= 4.3), with
M
= 2.8 children (
SD
= 1.5), and
M
= 15.4 years of education (
SD
=
2.5). Seventy-nine percent of participants were secular (
n
= 33), 57% had a Holocaust-surviving
father (
n
= 24), and 41% had husbands with Holocaust background (
n
= 17). The mean age of
the comparison group was 46.3 (
SD
= 4.4), with
M
= 3.2 children (
SD
= 2.3), and
M
= 16.2 years
of education (
SD
= 2.6). Seventy two percent of the participants were secular (
n
= 26), 25% had
a Holocaust-surviving father (
n
= 9), and 31% had husbands with Holocaust background (
n
=
11). To test for possible selective attrition, we compared the participants in the present sample
with those not included on all background variables, as measured in the original study (Sagi-
Schwartz et al. 2003) and found no significant differences.
Procedure
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 12
The study was approved by the University of Haifa ethics committee. A research
assistant visited each participant at home, at the participant’s convenience. Following a brief
introduction, the participant signed an informed consent form. Participants were then
interviewed and completed several questionnaires.
Measures
Prosocial propensities toward the mother interview. In the absence of measures for
assessing prosocial propensities in adult parent-child relations, we devised this interview for
the present study. Participants were asked to describe situations in which their mother
expressed feelings of happiness, sadness, fear, pain, and physical ailment. For each situation
portrayed, participants were asked to see things from their mother's point of view,
describing and explaining the mother’s behaviors, thoughts, feelings, and motivations.
Participants were also asked to describe their own reactions, thoughts, and feelings toward
their mother.
Analysis of the interviews followed Davis's (1983) theoretical framework for empathy,
consisting of three scales: empathic feelingscores ranging from 1 (
no display of empathic
feelings
) to 5 (
high display of empathic feelings
); reflective abilityscores ranging from 1 (
no
display of reflective ability
) to 7 (
high display of reflective ability
); and emotional
availabilityscores ranging from 1 (
distinct display of emotional un-availability
) to 7 (
high
display of emotional availability
). The three scales together are referred to as the participants’
internal empathic response toward their mothers. We also measured external empathic
response, expressed on two scales: prosocial verbal responsescores ranging from (-) 1
(
negative verbal response toward the mother
) to 7 (
high prosocial verbal response toward the
mother/altruistic verbal response
); and helping behaviorscores ranging from (-) 1 (
aversion to
helping behavior toward the mother
) to 7 (
altruistic behavior toward the mother
). Because the
rating scales varied in their scoring range, we converted the five scales into z-scores. Most of
the scales significantly correlated in the expected direction (Table 1).
Insert Table 1 about here
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 13
Next, we aggregated the respective scales into two general scores: internal empathic
responsescores ranging from -2.26 to 1.75 (
M
= .00
SD
= .77), and external empathic
responsescores ranging from -2.86 to 2.80 (
M
= .00
SD
= .88). The two general scores were
significantly and positively correlated (
r
= .53,
p
< .001).
Two raters who were blind to the goals of the study and to the participants' group
affiliation coded the interviews. Inter-rater agreement on each scale was established when the
difference between the two raters did not exceed one point. The inter-rater agreement
percentage for 16 cases (20% of the cases) on all five scales ranged from 81% to 100%.
Helping behaviors toward the parent questionnaire (Cicirelli, 1981). This is a self-
report inventory for indexing the weekly hours of help that participants provided to their
elderly parents in each of 16 life activities (Cicirelli, 1981). We used Varimax factor analysis to
explore whether the various helping items were organized around particular themes. We
detected three factors in which the means reflect weekly hours invested by the participants in
helping their mothers: (a) psychological support (
M
= 5.73,
SD
= 10.06; = .940), including
emotional support, spiritual support, and social activities; (b) pragmatic support (
M
= 3.38,
SD
= 5.96; = .717), including helping with household chores, economic support, helping with
transportation, helping with bureaucracy, etc.; and (c) physical-medical treatment (
M
= 2.33,
SD
= 9.59; = .933), including physical-bodily care and medical help at home. Note that the
scores for all three factors
were not normatively distributed. Furthermore, consistent with
Cicirelli's finding (1979), a sizable proportion of participants reported no weekly helping time
dedicated to psychological support (24%), to pragmatic support (41%), and to physical-medical
care (70%). Consequently, all three factors were grouped into dichotomized categories:
psychological supportno help (
n
= 19)/some help (
n
= 59); pragmatic supportno help (
n
=
32)/some help (
n
= 46); and physical-medical careno help (
n
= 52)/some help (
n
= 19).
"Mother's openness to discuss her wartime experiences and the frequent
transmission of factual information” scale, from the Parental Communication of
Holocaust Experiences Questionnaire (Lichtman, 1984). This self-report questionnaire was
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 14
developed to assess the offspring’s perceptions of their parents’ communication about
Holocaust experiences. It assesses communication about the Holocaust in the home in general,
as conveyed by both parents, according to four subscales: guilt-inducing communication,
awareness of the Holocaust at a young age and its non-verbal presence in the home, indirect
communication about the Holocaust, and affective communication about the Holocaust. The
questionnaire also measures separately each parent’s communication pattern regarding the
Holocaust experiences, based on two subscales: mother's and father's openness to discuss
her/his wartime experiences and the frequent transmission of factual information. Responses to
each question range from 1 (
no recollection of this type of communication
), to 5 (
very frequent
occurrence of this type of communication
). The questionnaire was translated into Hebrew and
adapted to Israel and used in prior research in a study on relationship patterns in a sample of
offspring of Holocaust survivors in Israel (Wiseman et al., 2002; Wiseman & Barber, 2008). In
the present study, we used the 24-item Hebrew version of the questionnaire (Wiseman et al.,
2002). Given that our research focused on the participant's mother's Holocaust experiences and
its relation to the participant's pro-social propensities, we used the subscale that measured the
explicit communication patterns regarding the mother's Holocaust experiences, namely the
“mother’s openness to discuss her wartime experiences and the frequent transmission of factual
information scale. Scores on this three-item subscale ranged from 1 to 4.67 (
M
= 2.79,
SD
=
.99), ( = .98).
Background and control variables. In the previous study, Sagi-Schwartz et al. (2003),
obtained the following background variables, which we subsequently used: participants' age,
number of children, number of education years, level of religiousness, father's Holocaust
background, and spouse's Holocaust background. Because empathic response and the felt need
to help may be moderated by various contextual aspects such as the participant's mother's
health status, recent hospitalizations, and stressful life events including financial hardships, we
obtained the following information about the participants' mothers' (first generation) health
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 15
status in the preceding five years: total number of health problems, total number of stressful
life events, and total number of hospitalizations. This information became available from a
parallel study that also assessed the sample derived from the original Sagi-Schwartz et al.
study (Fridman, et al., 2012).
Interpersonal communication competence (Rubin & Martin, 1994).
This 30-item
self-report questionnaire addresses a variety of skills promoting emotional communication, in
which the participants' responses range from 1 (
almost never
) to 5 (
almost always
), with a
higher total score representing better interpersonal communication skills. Rubin and Martin
(1994) reported an internal consistency of = .86 and have validated the questionnaire by
showing a positive relation to measures of satisfaction from communication and measures of
enjoinment, affection, and relaxation in interpersonal communication. In the present study, we
assessed interpersonal communication competence and skills to examine the potentially
moderating effects of intra-family communication patterns concerning the mother's Holocaust
trauma. The obtained range of scores was 2.83-4.53 (
M
= 3.74,
SD
= .34), ( = .83).
"Father's openness to discuss his wartime experiences and the frequent
transmission of factual information” scale, from the Parental Communication of
Holocaust Experiences Questionnaire (Lichtman, 1984).
We used the same Holocaust
communication questionnaire that we used for calculating the mother's Holocaust
communication pattern. Note that 57% of the participants in the Holocaust group had a
Holocaust-surviving father (
n
= 24), and 25% of the participants in the comparison group had a
Holocaust-surviving father (
n
= 9). Thus, we tested the assumption that the father's
communication patterns regarding his Holocaust experiences had no bearing on the pro-social
tendencies of our participants towards their mother. Therefore, we also calculated the "father's
openness to discuss his wartime experiences and the frequent transmission of factual
information” scale. Scores on this three-item subscale ranged from 3 to 9 (
M
= 5.65,
SD
= 2.81),
( = .99).
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 16
Results
Preliminary analysis:
There are two approaches to address the role of potential covariate variables.
According to the first, only variables that are signicantly related to both independent and
dependent variables should be entered into the nal analysis. It can be argued that this
approach might be too liberal, thus according to the second conservative approach any control
variable that is signicantly correlated with the dependent variables should be used as a
covariate in all analyses, irrespective of whether it is correlated with the independent variables
(e.g. ANCOVA; partial correlation; regression) [Nachmias, & Nachmias, 1997, (page 214)].
Given this methodological debate, it was decided to adopt the more conservative approach.
Our preliminary results showed that the background and control variables did not significantly
differ between the Holocaust group and the non-Holocaust group on most of the background
variables (age, number of children, number of education years, level of religiousness, and
spouse's Holocaust background), and on the control variables (inter-personal communication
skills, father's Holocaust communication pattern, total number of health problems of
participants' mothers, total number of stressful life events of participants' mothers, and total
number of hospitalizations of participants' mothers in the preceding five years) (see Table 2).
Additionally, none of those variables showed significant associations with any of the outcome
variables (prosocial propensities toward the mother). Thus, we decided not to proceed with
further analyses, which incorporate the background and control variables.
Insert Table 2 about here
As previously mentioned, the only background variable that was further addressed is
the participant's father's Holocaust background. Notably, the sample consists of second-
generation participants, some of whom had a father with Holocaust background and some
without. A significant difference was found between the Holocaust and non-Holocaust groups
with regard to the father's Holocaust background (²(1,
N
=78) = 8.21, p = 0.004, Cramer's V = 0.32).
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 17
Twenty-four participants from the Holocaust group (57%) and nine participants from the
control group (25%), had a Holocaust surviving father. The preferred approach for controlling
for the possible impact of this background variable, would be to conduct statistical analyses
which divide the sample into four groups (both parents Holocaust survivors; none of the
parents are Holocaust survivors; only mother Holocaust survivors; only father Holocaust
survivor). However, due to the small number of participants in some of these sub-groups, this
could not be carried out. In order to determine whether a sample of participants with only
fathers without Holocaust background would yield results similar to a sample that includes
participants with fathers who did or did not have Holocaust background, we excluded from the
analysis all the participants who had a Holocaust surviving father. The same pattern of results
emerged as with the analyses for the entire sample that included participants with or without
fathers with Holocaust background. Thus, in order to increase the statistical power of the
sample we present the results pertaining to the entire sample.
Finally, it is possible that the familial communication pattern regarding the father's
Holocaust experiences might influence our participants' pro social tendencies toward the
mother. Therefore, we computed the participants' reports concerning their "fathers' openness
to discuss their wartime experiences and the frequent transmission of factual information”
scale, derived from the Parental Communication of Holocaust Experiences Questionnaire
(Lichtman, 1984). When comparing our research groups on the father's Holocaust
communication scale, no significant result was discerned. With regard to our second
hypothesis pertaining to the within-Holocaust group analysis, we also explored the role of
father's Holocaust communication in all analyses, not detecting any significant result. Thus, it
is evident that our participants' communication pattern regarding the father's Holocaust
experiences is not associated with pro-social tendencies toward the mother.
We had few missing data, all associated with reports of events that occurred to the
participants and their mothers (e.g., the amount of time invested in helping the mother with
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 18
shopping). Because these were reports about actual events and not attitudes or psychological
constructs, we opted to keep the marginal number of missing data statistically unfixed, rather
than including artificially corrected scores in the analysis.
Analysis of the 1st hypothesis: Between groups analysis
Our first hypothesis addressed the differences in prosocial propensities between
participants with and without Holocaust background. A MANOVA examining the internal and
external empathic response toward the mother showed that adult daughters of Holocaust
survivors did not differ significantly from the comparison group on either of the interview
measures: general MAVOVA effect Pillai's
F
(2,75) = 0.012 (
p
= .988) and specific analyses of
F
(1,75)
= 0.021 (p = .885)
for the internal empathic response, and
F
(1,75)
= 0.001 (p = .980)
for the
external one. Similarly, Chi-square analysis did not yield a significant result with regard to
psychological support extended to the mother (²(1,
N
=73) = 0.13,
p
= .718). Significant results
were obtained, however, for pragmatic support and for physical medical care. Chi-square
analysis revealed that offspring whose mothers were Holocaust survivors reported a
significantly higher rate of pragmatic support to the mother (71%) than did women whose
mothers were not Holocaust survivors (43 %) (²(1,
N
=77) = 6.42,
p
= .011, Cramer's V = 0.29), and
also reported a significantly higher rate of physical-medical care to the mother (35%) than did
women whose mothers were not Holocaust survivors (15.6 %) (²(1,
N
=73) = 3.70,
p
= .054,
Cramer's V = 0.22). See table 3 for summery of the results.
Insert Table 3 about here
Analysis of the 2nd hypothesis: Within group analysis
The second hypothesis addressed communication patterns within the family regarding
the Holocaust. As noted, no significant difference was found between the Holocaust and the
comparison groups regarding general inter-personal communication patterns. Additionally,
general inter-personal communication patterns, were not significantly associated with any of
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 19
the outcome variables (prosocial propensities toward the mother). Thus, our focus on the
family communication patterns regarding the mother's Holocaust experiences may shed light
on a unique characteristic of the mother-daughter relationship. Significant positive Pearson
correlations were revealed between participants' scores on the “mother’s openness to discuss
her wartime experiences and the frequent transmission of factual information scale, and the
internal and external empathic response toward the mother (
r =
.41,
p
= .006, r² = 0.17;
r
= .31,
p
= .047, r² = 0.10; respectively). T-tests did not reveal significant differences on the “mother’s
openness to discuss her wartime experiences and the frequent transmission of factual
information scale between the psychological support toward the mother groups (no helping
time/some helping time) (
t
(39) = -1.46,
p
= .152) and the physical-medical care toward the mother
groups (no helping time/some helping time) (
t
(38) = 0.73,
p
= .471). But a significant difference
was discerened between the pragmatic support toward the mother groups (
t
(40) = -2.22,
p
= .034,
CI 95%: -1.37; -.06, Cohen's d = 0.76). Participants in the some helping time group reported
higher levels of factual information about their mother's Holocaust experiences (
M
= 2.99,
SD
= .96), than did participants in the no helping time group (
M
= 2.28,
SD
= .92). See table 4 for
summery of the results.
Insert Table 4 about here
Discussion
The present study is among a few that systematically examined salutogenic outcomes
following trauma in offspring of survivors, by exploring whether prosocial propensities could
have evolved in the context of parent-child relationship between adult daughters and their
elderly Holocaust child-survivor mothers. Offspring of Holocaust survivors often report a high
level of commitment toward their parents, resulting in an extensive effort to help them in
various tasks (Shafet, 1994). Our study revealed no differences on the two dimensions of the
empathy interview between daughters of Holocaust child survivors and the comparison group.
This may be related to the validity of the new interview, although the same interview was
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 20
found to be effective when examining the second hypothesis (see below). At the same time,
and consistent with our first hypothesis, our findings indicate that daughters of Holocaust child
survivors exhibited an elevated level of physical/medical care and of pragmatic support (e.g.,
driving, shopping, helping with housework, helping with bureaucratic matters, etc.) than did
participants without Holocaust background. These findings are consistent with our hypothesis
that such positive development or post-traumatic growth (Tedeschi et al., 1998) can take place
precisely because of the Holocaust family background. Few studies have explored post-
traumatic growth among second generation Holocaust survivors. For example, Dekel, Mandle,
and Solomon (2013) found that 35 years after their participation in the Yom Kippur War,
veterans whose parents were Holocaust survivors had lower post-traumatic growth over time
than did veterans without such family history. Our results shed further light on this newly
emerging interest in post-traumatic growth among descendants of trauma survivors. Our
findings are also consistent with Staub’s notion of altruism born of suffering (Staub, 2003),
according to which the experience of suffering may elicit altruistic responses. Staub also
suggested that not only those who personally experienced suffering may develop altruism born
of suffering, but also their offspring.
Other studies have not found signs of intergenerational transmission of the trauma to
the second generation of Holocaust survivors (Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003; van IJzendoorn et
al., 2003) These studies suggest that the survivors were able to provide 'good enough'
protective parenting to the second generation, possibly at the personal cost of setting aside
their pain and traumatic memories. This may be seen as a type of altruism born of suffering,
conveyed also to the offspring, who later may have identified with this line of action and
adopted it. This reasoning finds support in numerous studies that describe the second
generation's compassion toward victims, their tolerance toward members of unprivileged or
minority groups, their intolerance toward displays of prejudice and discrimination, and their
willingness to help others (Carmil & Breznitz, 1991; Weinfeld & Sigal, 1986; Russel, Plotkin, &
Heapy 1985). It has been suggested that the descendants absorbed the Holocaust surviving
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 21
parents humane attitudes (Carmil & Breznitz, 1991; Weinfeld & Sigal, 1986). These prosocial
attitudes may reflect a worldview of Holocaust survivors that is significantly more meaningful,
just, and controllable than that of their counterparts without Holocaust background (Cohen et
al., 2001; Prager & Solomon, 1995).
It is reasonable to argue that our results are directly associated with higher rates of
physical illness in the Holocaust group. This alternate explanation is supported by victims’
reports of chronic trauma, elevated symptoms of prolonged physical arousal, and various
somatic symptoms, as in the case of South-East Asia concentration camp refugees (Kroll et al.,
1989) and Holocaust survivors (e.g., Herman, 1996; De Loss, 1990). A recent meta-analysis,
however, revealed that Holocaust survivors do not exhibit higher rates of physical illness than
their counterparts without Holocaust background (Barel et al., 2010). Moreover, a recent study
found that male Holocaust survivors have a longer life-expectancy than their peers, and female
Holocaust survivors' life-expectancy was not different than that of their counterparts without
Holocaust background (Sagi-Schwartz, Bakermans-Kranenburg, Linn, & van IJzendoorn,
2013). Likewise, our findings show that the mothers of our second-generation participants,
with and without Holocaust background, did not differ on measures of health. Thus, the
physical or health conditions of the Holocaust group cannot account for the elevated prosocial
propensities of daughters of Holocaust survivors.
We have shown that, as a group, adult daughters of Holocaust child survivors provided
enhanced pragmatic help as well as enhanced physical and medical help to their mother. We
assumed that potential variation within the second generation may also play a role in the
development of prosocial propensities. Hence, our research also included a within Holocaust-
group analysis, pertaining to our participants' report of their family communication style
regarding their mother's Holocaust experiences. Consistent with our second hypothesis, results
show that a higher level of factual knowledge of the mother's Holocaust experiences was
associated with elevated internal and external empathic response toward the Holocaust
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 22
surviving mother. Higher level of factual knowledge of the mother's Holocaust experiences
was also displayed by participants who reported a greater amount of time invested in providing
pragmatic support to the mother than by those who stated that they did not invest any time at
all in providing pragmatic support to their mother.
These findings are consistent with the results of studies conducted in the general
population, showing a correlation between parents' open communication patterns about
emotions in general and about difficult emotions in particular, and their children's greater
ability to adopt another person's perspective and express empathy (e.g., Denham, Zoller, &
Couchoud, 1994). These findings are also in keeping with second-generation research results,
showing the importance of open and balanced communication patterns in the family for the
development of empathy. One Holocaust study showed that Holocaust surviving mothers'
overwhelming communication pattern was associated with low empathy as exhibited by their
children (Lichtman, 1984). Our results may also shed light on communication patterns serving
as the link between stress and posttraumatic growth. Dekel, et al. (2011) found in their
longitudinal study of Israeli ex-prisoners of war that growth was an outcome of distress. They
used Tedeschi and Calhoun’s model (2004) in order to explain their results. Accordingly, it is
the emotional struggle in the wake of trauma, which might move forward post traumatic
growth rather than mere exposure to traumatic events. The ensuing cognitive rumination
transforms into constructive processing of the traumatic event may become the drive for
positive change. In our study, it is possible that familial communication pattern characterized
by high levels of factual knowledge about the mother's Holocaust ordeal, provided the
foundations for coping with the trauma. Furthermore, one of the factors associated with post
traumatic growth was found to be emotional disclosure (Taku, Cann, Tedeschi, & Calhoun,
2009). Thus, this open familial communication pattern could have nurtured post traumatic
growth, not only for the Holocaust survivor, but for the second generation as well. This was
manifested in intensified pro social tendencies of our participants.
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 23
Our findings underscore the unique nature of the relationships between adult daughters
of Holocaust survivors and their aging mothers from a prosocial perspective, which has not
been systematically investigated to date. The field of prosocial research focused mainly on
parent-child relations at early ages and on interactions between strangers. Our findings shed
new light on prosocial aspects of adult child-elderly parent relations and suggest that factual
knowledge about the Holocaust experiences of the mother is an important component in the
relationship between Holocaust survivors and their adult daughters, especially because it is
related to the daughter's empathy and prosocial behavior toward the mother.
Limitations of the study
Our sample was comprised exclusively of women. Despite the importance of the
father's role in child development, research in this field involving mothers is more frequent and
elaborate. Therefore, for methodological, logistic, and budget reasons (i.e., mothers tend to
cooperate more than fathers in research on parent-child interactions, with much smaller attrition),
the first and second generations in the original study consisted entirely of female participants
(grandmothers and mothers) (Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003). This has naturally led to a limitation
because research results show that women and men tend to exhibit different aspects of
prosocial propensities (Eagly, 2009). The reasons for this difference may be social (the
feminine social role dictates a care-giving orientation) (Eagly, 2009) or evolutionary-biological
(Hoffman, 2000). In future studies, prosocial propensities of sons of Holocaust survivors should
also be explored.
Another limitation of our sample is the Holocaust background of our participant's
fathers. This background variable was not controlled for while recruiting the sample.
Consequently, compared to the control group, participants in the Holocaust group whose
mother is a Holocaust survivor were also significantly more likely to have a Holocaust
surviving father. This finding reflects the fact that Holocaust survivors were more likely to
marry each other, in post-war Israel. A family background in which both parents were
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 24
Holocaust survivors might have influenced the mother-daughter relationship, including the
pro-social propensities measured in our research. In our preliminary analyses, however, we
demonstrated that familial communication patterns regarding the father's Holocaust
experiences were not related to our participants' pro-social tendencies toward the mother.
Although we tried to control for this statistically, further research is required to clarify the
issue.
Another variable that could potentially influence the relationship between our
participants and their Holocaust surviving mother is the specific type of experience the first
generation faced during WWII. For example, it could be argued that living in hiding had a
different influence on the survivor, compared to surviving a labor camp. However, all of our
participants' mothers in the Holocaust group experienced more than one type of "Holocaust
experience" (living in a ghetto; surviving labor camps or concentration camps; hiding in
monasteries or in remote isolated places; concealing their Jewish identity and living with
Christian families; joining the Partisans; surviving with other people in the woods, etc.). Thus,
we cannot provide mutually exclusive categories of a singular and distinct "Holocaust
experience" that each survivor experienced. Consequently, such a comparison between
discrete sub-groups in our sample is not possible. Moreover, even if distinct sub-groups of
specific "Holocaust experience" could be created, the small size of such sub-groups in our
sample limits our ability to investigate this issue statistically. One of the most horrific
experiences that Holocaust survivors coped with was surviving a death camp. Therefore, it
might be argued that death-camp-survivors are an "extreme group" in terms of the trauma they
suffered. Such an extreme group may exhibit different outcomes compared to the rest of our
sample. However, out of the forty-two participants in our Holocaust group only six had
mothers who survived a death-camp (Auschwitz). Thus, we cannot shed light on this issue
based on our data. However, beyond the specific surviving experiences of the child-survivors
in our sample, the profound traumatic experience that they all share was the murder and tragic
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 25
loss of both parents. For more specific information about the experiences during the Holocaust
of the child survivors in our sample, see Appendix 1.
Furthermore, an alternative explanation to the increased helping behavior that we
found among offspring of Holocaust survivor mothers may be that these offspring were more
worried and concerned about their mothers, and perhaps more anxious regarding their mother's
fate than were controls. Such aspects in the mother-daughter relationships were not measured
in the present study, and therefore cannot be ruled out as viable explanations.
In addition, we proposed that post traumatic growth was manifested in empathy and
helping behavior that our participants exhibited toward their mother. We also proposed that it
was associated with communication patterns regarding the mother's Holocaust experiences.
However, post traumatic growth was not specifically measured in our research, thus our
assumptions could not be directly examined.
Recall that given the absence of measures for assessing prosocial propensities in adult
parent-child relations, we devised an interview specifically for the present study. Moreover,
because the rating scales varied in their scoring range, we found that it was the correct
approach to convert the five scales into z-scores, and then aggregate the respective scales into
two general scores. The limitation of this approach is that z-scores make all variables equal
with respect to variability, even if some show considerably more variability than others. Using
unit-weighted mean composites of the raw scores would preserve differences in variability
such that the actual levels are available to the reader for interpretation. In balance, however,
we thought that the use of z values was more appropriate for creating comparable scores.
Because the prosocial propensities toward the mother interview was devised specifically for
the present study, our results provide a preliminary validation for this measure; further
validation research is needed.
Additionally, statistical examination of our first hypothesis revealed significant
differences between the Holocaust and non-Holocaust groups pertaining only to questionnaire
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 26
measures, not to the newly developed interview measures. This pattern of results may have to
do with the difference between the nature of the questions that were asked on the questionnaire
and in the interview. The questionnaire inquired about the number of weekly hours that the
participant spent helping her mother. The interview raised more subtle issues regarding the
participant's relationship with her mother, therefore differences between the two groups were
more difficult to reveal using the interview.
Finally, because our data were collected concurrently, we cannot assume any causal
relationship between the Holocaust traumas of the survivors and the prosocial propensities of
the second generation. But our unique quasi-experimental design and our carefully composed
sample make it possible for us to postulate that post-traumatic growth (Tedeschi et al., 1998)
may evolve in the context of a Holocaust family background.
Conclusions and implications of the study
Our findings suggest that adult daughters of elderly Holocaust child-survivors have
grown up with awareness that their mother survived the Holocaust. Such awareness, especially
of the mothers' traumatic experience, may have led to enhanced prosocial tendencies toward
the mother, namely to intensified pragmatic support and physical-medical assistance.
Additionally, the descendants' prosocial propensities were more pronounced when a more
open and balanced communication about the mother’s Holocaust trauma took place in the
family. In the presence of such communication patterns, second-generation participants
exhibited intensified internal and external empathic response toward the mother and invested
more weekly time in providing pragmatic support to their mother than they did in the absence
of such patterns. These results have significant implications for Holocaust survivors and their
children and suggest that communication patterns in the family in general regarding past
traumas (war experience, life-threatening illness, accidents, etc.) may nurture the children's
prosocial propensities.
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 27
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Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 35
Table 1
Correlations between subscales of the prosocial propensities toward the mother interview
Empathic
feeling
Reflective
ability
Emotional
availability
Prosocial
verbal
response
Helping
behavior
Empathic
feeling
.57**
.40**
.55**
.41**
Reflective
ability
.09
.48**
.31**
Emotional
availability
.23*
.23*
Prosocial
verbal
response
.48**
Helping
behavior
**
p
< .01
*
p
< .05
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 36
Table 2
Comparison between Holocaust and non-Holocaust groups on background/ control variables
Measure
Holocaust
(
n =
42)
Non-Holocaust
(
n =
36)
Test result
Age
M
= 46.30
SD
= 4.30
M
= 46.30
SD
= 4.40
t
(76) = 0.11
Number of children
M
= 2.80
SD
= 1.50
M
= 3.20
SD
= 2.30
t
(76) = -.70
Number of education years
M
= 15.32
SD
= 2.35
M
= 16.41
SD
= 2.76
t
(76) = -1.88
Level of religiousness
79% secular
72% secular
²(1, n=78) = .86
Father Holocaust survivor
57% Holocaust
survivor
25% Holocaust
survivor
²(1, n=78) = 8.21**
(Cramer's V = 0.32)
Father's openness to discuss his
wartime experiences and the
frequent transmission of factual
information
M
= 5.63
SD
= 2.85
M
= 5.67
SD
= 2.81
t
(76) = -.05
Spouse's Holocaust background
41% has
Holocaust
background
31% has
Holocaust
background
²(1, n=78) = .97
Inter-personal communication
skills
M
= 3.72
SD
= .33
M
= 3.78
SD
= .35
t
(75) = .77
Total number of health problems of
participants' mothers
M
= 6.08
SD
= 3.20
M
= 4.84
SD
= 3.20
t
(49) = 1.38
Total number of stressful life
events of participants' mothers
M
= 2.23
SD
= 1.45
M
= 1.48
SD
= 1.45
t
(49) = 1.85
Total number of hospitalizations of
participants' mothers in the
preceding 5 years
M
= 1.04
SD
= 1.24
M
= .75
SD
= .90
t
(48) = .93
**
p
< .01
Note
: 1. Significant results were obtained only for "father Holocaust survivor" variable. 2.
Differences in
n
size for the last 3 comparisons are due to the fact that information pertaining to
these variables was obtained from a parallel study that used a smaller sample (Fridman et al.,
2012).
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 37
Table 3
Summary of the results of the 1st Hypothesis: Between groups analysis
Measure
Holocaust
(
n =
42)
Non-Holocaust
(
n =
36)
Test result
Interview's Internal empathic
response
M
= 0.01
SD
= 0.76
M
= -0.01
SD
= 0.80
t
(76) = 0.15
Interview's External empathic
response
M
= 0.00
SD
= 0.92
M
= -0.00
SD
= 0.84
t
(76) = 0.03
Helping parent questionnaire's
emotional support
75% helped
76% helped
²(1,
N
=73) = 0.13
Helping parent questionnaire's
pragmatic support
71% helped
43% helped
²(1,
N
=77) = 6.42*
Cramer's V = 0.29
Helping parent questionnaire's
physical/medical care
38% helped
15.6% helped
²(1,
N
=73) = 3.70*
Cramer's V = 0.22
*
p
< .05
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 38
Table 4
Summary of the results of the 2nd hypothesis: Within group analysis pertaining to “mother’s
openness
to discuss her wartime experiences and the frequent transmission of factual information
” scale
Measure
Help to the
mother
No Help to the
mother
Test result
Interview's Internal empathic
response
r =
.41**
= 0.17
Interview's External empathic
response
r
= .31*
r² = 0.10
Helping parent questionnaire's
emotional support
M(n=32)
= 2.92
SD
= 1.01
M(n=10)
= 2.37
SD
= 0.84
t
(39) = -1.46
Helping parent questionnaire's
pragmatic support
M(n=30)
= 2.99
SD
= 0.96
M(12)
= 2.28
SD
= 0.92
t
(40) = -2.22*
CI 95%: -1.37; -.06
Cohen's d = 0.76
Helping parent questionnaire's
physical/medical care
M(n=16)
= 2.67
SD
= 0.98
M(n=26)
= 2.86
SD
= 1.01
t
(38) = 0.73
**
p
< .01
*
p
< .05
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 39
Appendix 1
Information about experiences during the Holocaust of the child survivors in the sample
1
Grandmothers in the Holocaust group (child survivors) were on average 8.3 years old at
the time of the Holocaust onset (1939) (S.D. = 2.79; age range 4-14). Their countries of origin
were ruled by the Nazis or their allies during WWII Austria (n = 2); Czechoslovakia (n = 5);
Germany (n = 1); France (n = 2); Hungary (n = 8); Poland (n = 20); Romania (n = 8); Ukraine (n
= 2). Following Nazi occupation, all of them were uprooted from their homes with their
families. They survived with one or both of their parents for an average duration of 2.28 years
(S.D. = 1.26) before separated from them. For most of them, the separation from parents was
unplanned, abrupt, and traumatic [66.7%; the separation from the mother (n = 32), and 79.2%; the
separation from the father (n = 38)]. All of the child survivors in the Holocaust group lost both
parents during the war and often even additional close family members (e.g. siblings). Note that
12.5% of them witnessed their parent's murder by the Nazis (n = 6). After their parents' murder,
they survived a variety of horrific ordeals. All of the survivors experienced more than one type
of "Holocaust experience". Thus, we cannot provide mutually exclusive categories of a
singular and distinct "Holocaust experience" that each survivor experienced.
One of the most horrific experiences was surviving a death camp. According to the
Holocaust Encyclopedia (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2019) most of the
children who arrived to the death camps were sent directly to the gas chambers upon arrival. In
fact, only six Holocaust child-survivor in the original sample, survived a death-camp
(Auschwitz) (12.5% of the original sample). Note that they were not the youngest children when
they arrived Auschwitz. They survived because they appeared even older than their true age,
1
The information presented in the appendix is based on the Holocaust survivors' testimonies about their ordeal
during WWII. The interviews were conducted during data collection in the Sagi-Schwartz et al.'s (2003) study.
Increased empathy and helping behavior toward the mother in adult daughters of Holocaust survivors, page 40
and upon arrival to Auschwitz they lied about their age when asked about it. Thus, by
successfully deceiving the Nazis as if they were young women eligible for work, they were not
sent to death.
Since Holocaust survivors in the original sample (Sagi-Schwartz et al., 2003) were
children when separated from their parents, who were eventually exterminated, it is reasonable
to assume that they could only survive with the help of others. Accordingly, our data show that
after their parents' murder forty of them (83.3%) managed to survive with the help of adults that
took care of them while fleeing or hiding. Those caring adults could be relatives and older
siblings, neighbors or even strangers. Thirty-three of the survivors were taken care of by some
adults for an extended period of time following the separation from or murder of their parents
(82.5% of the above-mentioned caring relationships), and seven survivors were involved in
consecutive sporadic and short-term relationships with supporting adults (17.5% of the above-
mentioned caring relationships). Also, social networks and organizations (e.g. youth-groups and
the resistance movements), and social and religious institutes (e.g. orphanages and monasteries)
helped them to survive. Forty-seven of the Holocaust child-survivors in the original sample
(97.9%) were supported by those social groups and organizations. Notably, even in Auschwitz
the presence of a close person probably helped to survive. Five out of six first-generation
participants who survived the death-camp did so with a close relative (sister/s and/or a cousin).
... This family communication pattern involved survivors openly sharing their traumatic Holocaust experiences in an age-appropriate manner, tailored to the children's developmental stage and ability to understand. These daughters also invested more time in the psychological support of their mothers than did participants who reported less open family communication patterns about the Holocaust (Alkalay et al., 2020). These findings may be discussed in the context of post-traumatic growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004), resulting in positive outcomes in the second generation, namely elevated levels of prosocial propensities toward their mother. ...
... Such is the previously mentioned Insightfulness Assessment (Koren-Karie & Oppenheim, 1997) which assesses parents' understanding of their children's internal state. Another example is an interview to measure adults' empathy and prosocial tendencies toward their aging parents (Alkalay et al., 2020) which was used in the Holocaust project with the adult daughters of Holocaust child survivors. Both measures were extensively influenced by the conceptualization of coherence of mind, as formulated by Mary Main in the AAI (Main et al., 1985). ...
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... National events included in the Jewish national narrative, such as the Holocaust, for example, are liable to affect patterns of interpersonal interaction, specifically empathy and pro-social behavior. For example, a recent study found that adult daughters of Holocaust survivors demonstrated more empathy and helping behavior toward their mothers than did women whose mothers were not Holocaust survivors (Alkalay et al. 2020). ...
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... It is an intriguing possibility that these microbial muses contribute to a host collective, a nurturing holobiont of empathy and altruism passed from one generation to the next, for societal advancement and mutual survival. In this way seismic trauma may impart a shared sense of purpose and resiliency spanning generations [20,21]. Do antibiotics and processed diets deplete our vast repertoire of microbial passengers, ultimately changing what it means to be human [22,23]? ...
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... With that major caveat in place, we can point out that there is some evidence that PTG is "transmissible" to close others, and even to larger groups and social systems [66,103]. For example, life partners, siblings and/or caregivers of cancer patients or cancer survivors have reported PTG in various studies [104][105][106][107]. Related to this research is so-called vicarious (or secondary) PTG wherein first responders, healthcare workers and/or those who spend extended time with trauma survivors, experience PTG [108][109][110][111]. Research drawn from military, first responder and healthcare professions (where the likelihood of direct and vicarious exposure to trauma is common) has resulted in organizational responses that might facilitate PTG [112]. ...
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This book explores the roots of goodness and evil by gathering together the knowledge gained in a lifelong study of harmful or altruistic behavior. Ervin Staub has studied what leads children and adults to help others in need and how caring, helping, and altruism develop in children; bullying and youth violence and their prevention; the roots of genocide, mass killing, and other harmful behavior between groups of people; the prevention of violence; healing victimized groups and reconciliation between groups. He presents a broad panorama of the roots of violence and caring and how we create societies and a world that is caring, peaceful, and harmonious. © Cambridge University Press 2003 and Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Chapter
“Second generation” has now become an accepted term in Israel to refer to adult children of Holocaust survivors. The term has been current in Israeli professional literature since at least the early 1980s and has made its way into music, film, literature, and other arts, as well as into common parlance. In Israel, as elsewhere, children of survivors themselves have banded together to form commemorative organizations and self-help groups, thereby defining themselves as a group of people with a good deal in common. Their assumption, and the assumption of all who use the term second generation, is that it is more than merely a biological marker and that somehow or other the trauma of the Holocaust has been transmitted from the survivors to their children. The current chapter investigates the content of this term in Israel.