Transgenerational Trauma in Emerging Adults

What is it about?

Transgenerational trauma occurs when trauma is transferred from one generation to the next, as in the case of parent to child, or grandparent to grandchild. Trauma can potentially impact a person’s brain development and relates to societal issues such as poverty, divorce, and criminality. Thus, it is important to better understand and attend to transgenerational trauma (TT). The current study presents qualitative data from a college sample of emerging adults between the ages of 18 and 23. This study was performed to identify potential facets of TT. The Family Impact Study Questionnaire (FISQ) was constructed and revised based on feedback from a college sample of eleven emerging adults. Then, it was administered to fifty-six ethnically diverse participants. The participant responses suggest that there are ten facets indicative of TT. Six of those facets are consistent with current findings in the literature and include, dangerous place, overprotection, parental role reversal, neglect, perceived parental burden, and resilience. Four facets, no knowledge, no effect, concerns about transference of parental issues, parental behavior as a model, and importance of exposure expand on current findings in the literature. This research suggests that further development of the FISQ would help to advance TT knowledge.

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