Yaffe, Y. (2017). Intergenerational Transmission of Parental Authority in Second Generation of Holocaust Survivors in Israel – A Pilot Study. Journal of Educational Sciences and Psychology, 7(1).

Abstract

A pilot study designed to examine the continuity and differences in parenting styles over two generations of parents from families of Holocaust survivors. The sample included 42 parents of second generation Holocaust survivors (age: 56.22 ± 7.08) and 44 parents as a control group (age: 53.56 ± 10.6). Using two versions of the PAQ questionnaire, parents reported on their own parenting styles and their recollections of their parents’ parenting styles during their childhood. The findings revealed that the three parenting styles in the first generation of Holocaust survivors explain about 34% of the variance of permissive parenting in the second generation. (with permissive and authoritarian parenting in the first generation as dominant predictors). In the control, normal intergenerational continuity was found between the permissive and authoritarian parenting styles. It was also found that the parents of second generation Holocaust survivors perceive themselves as less authoritarian, but more authoritative and permissive than their parents. The findings suggest that Holocaust survivors’ families hold unique characteristics of parental continuity over generations.