Children of Holocaust survivors : relations of perceived parental traumatization to attachment styles / by Ellen Berger.

Existing research on the effects of the Holocaust on the second generation has yielded contradictory findings. It is likely that within-group differences in this heterogeneous population accounts for some of these contradictory findings. This study explores the relationship between perceived parental traumatization from the Holocaust and attachments to parents and romantic partners. Attachment theory (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Bowlby, 1988) is utilized as a theoretical framework. Numerous studies have shown how attachment style is affected by trauma, as well as how these effects are transmitted from one generation to the next. The present study will investigate the relations between a parent's Holocaust traumatization and their adult offspring's attachment style.