Parental communication and psychological distress in children of Holocaust survivors: a comparison between the U.S. and Israel.

To determine how the children of Holocaust survivors in Israel and the U.S. differ on measures of parental communication and psychological distress, we performed a comparative study on 140 subjects in the U.S. and 54 in Israel using a written questionnaire. Respondents in Israel reported more communication by their parents, but also a higher level of demoralization; this may be due to more demoralization among the general population. In both populations, parents' general communication correlated negatively with anxiety, depression and demoralization and positively with guilt. Parents' Holocaust communication resulted in similar findings; however, in Israel only a negative correlation with demoralization reached significance. Parental communication about the Holocaust thus seems to be of less importance in Israel in determining the children's psychological outcome. This may be due to a greater role by Israeli society in forming children's perception of the Holocaust.