User:Mbh90/Transgenerational trauma

Refugees
Refugees are often at risk of experiencing transgenerational trauma. While many refugees experience some sort of loss and trauma, war-related trauma has been documented to have longer-lasting effects on mental health and span through more generations. Children are especially prone to the trauma of resettling, as their childhood may have been disrupted by migration to a new country. Additionally, they often face the difficulty of learning a new language, adapting to a new environment, and navigating the school's social system in their host country. Normal caregiving is disrupted by the process of fleeing from their original home, and it may continue to be disrupted by their parents' PTSD symptoms and challenges faced in their new home. Furthermore, many host countries do not provide adequate mental healthcare systems to refugees, which can worsen symptoms and lead to transmission of trauma. In general, children of refugees exhibited higher overall levels of depression, PTSD, anxiety, attention deficiency, stress, and other psychological issues.

Vietnam war refugees
Since 1975, the US has accepted many refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. As a result of the Vietnam War, many of these Southeast Asian refugees are at high risk of experiencing transgenerational trauma. Factors occurring both before and after immigration to America could contribute to traumatization in these groups. Being forced to witness and flee violence and war were uniquely traumatic occurrences, resulting in high levels of psychological distress. Upon arriving in the United States, Vietnamese Americans struggled to adapt to their new environment, resulting in limited social mobility, high rates of poverty within the community, and exposure to community violence. Exposure to these stressors are correlated with higher trauma symptoms in first-generation Vietnamese American refugees. In turn, these traumatic experiences impacted the ways that refugees raised their children, since they internalized notions of being outsiders in a new country and emphasized success in the face of their many sacrifices. This cultural and familial transmission of trauma has led to second-generation Vietnamese Americans to face their own forms of intergenerational trauma. These unique forms of mental health and stress are often not addressed due to socio-cultural standards of silence and refusal to seek treatment.

While a majority of these groups were fleeing war and poverty, Cambodian refugees were also fleeing a genocide from the Khmer Rouge. The atrocities of violence, starvation and torture were common themes experienced by these refugees. Many Cambodian refugee families refused to talk about their trauma which created an isolating environment for the child. This led to a transmission of trauma and through the continuing pattern of silence and refusal to acknowledge an issue or seek treatment. There has also been data showing that the children of survivors from regions with higher rates of violence and mortality displayed stronger overall symptoms. The parenting style of caregivers may also contribute to the rate of impact among children of Khmer Rouge survivors. A 2013 study found that among Khmer Rouge survivors with PTSD who engage in role-reversal parenting, a form of parenting where the parent looks to the child for emotional support, there may be higher rates of anxiety and depression in the children.